Unionville High School (Ontario)

Unionville High School
Unionville High School
Location
	201 Town Centre Blvd.; Markham, Ontario, L3R 8G5
Information
School type	Public Secondary School
Motto	Create and Achieve
Founded	1985
School board	York Region District School Board
Superintendent	John Havercroft
Area trustee	Gary Unitas
Principal	Leslie Johnstone
Grades	9-12
Enrollment	2000+ (2006)
Language	English, French
Area	York Region
Colour(s)	Maroon
Mascot	Wolves
Team name	Unionville Wolves
Website	Unionville Highschool

See UHS for other uses of the initials/acronym.

Unionville High School (commonly known as UHS) is a public high school of the York Region District School Board. It is located on Town Centre Boulevard in the community of Unionville in the town of Markham, Ontario, and is situated next to the Markham Theatre and the town's municipal offices. The school's motto is "Create and Achieve", its mascot is the wolf. The official opening of Unionville High School was in 1985, with a west wing added in 2002. Facilities in Unionville High include: visual art rooms, cafeteria, classrooms, communication/new media lab, construction lab, design & technological lab, dance studios, family studies labs, black box theatre, guidance office, two gymnasiums, music rooms, drama rooms, outdoor fields, outdoor track, music practice rooms, resource center, science labs, staff dining room, staff workrooms, student council office, student parking facilities, washrooms and shower facilities, weight room, and the yearbook office. There are approximately 350 computers in the school, distributed into 12 computer labs.

Unionville High School is most known for its arts program, called Arts York. The school was originally built to house this regional arts program, therefore it has enhanced arts facilities. Arts York is divided into 4 categories: visual arts, music, dance, and drama. In order to gain entry to these unique programs, grade eight to eleven students are required to audition.

Programs

Arts York

Arts York is a four year program that high school students applied and admitted into take concurrent with the mainstream program. The high school takes students from all over the Greater Toronto Area. One famous graduate of this program is Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars movies.

Visual Arts

The Visual Arts program provides opportunities for individual creative and imaginative growth as well as development of technical skills. Students of this program will be introduced to experimental and traditional directions in drawing and painting. They will also specialize in sculpture, photography, printmaking (etching and silkscreen), ceramics, textiles and video. There will also be studies in the history of art and critical analyses of one's own work. The student's discovery of individual strengths and directions is a prime focus. For the purpose of developing the aptitudes of talented students interested in the Visual Arts, programs are being offered in all four years.

At each grade level students can expect to take part in field studies to art galleries, museums, OCAD and have talks or portfolio evaluations by guest artists in a variety of artistic careers. The students' work is displayed in the school during the annual Art Show and annually in May at the Markham Theatre. Each year, students of this program are to take 2 visual art courses, one per each semester.

In grade 9, the Visual Arts Foundation Major IA course offer an overview of visual arts as a foundation for further study. Students will become familiar with the elements and principles of design and the expressive qualities of various materials through working with a range of materials, processes, techniques, and styles. They will learn and use methods of analysis and criticism and will study the characteristics of particular historical art periods and a selection of Canadian art and the art of other cultures. This course will introduce the theme of developing imaginative ideas and technical skills through drawing and painting. Both representational and abstract styles will be studied. Drawing concepts, the use of tone, line and volume through still life and portrait, will be developed in pencil, inks and chalks. Printmaking, through line etching, will reinforce design principles. Film animation will be studied as well. The second grade 9 course, Visual Arts Foundation Major IB, introduces topics such as sculpture, and ceramics. Students will learn about sculptural form and the design arts, through the process of making a plaque. Students will also learn about pattern and design; by designing their own wall papers and through research on Escher. Historical techniques will be explored through a thematic approach to Art History. This year during second semester, the 2nd period class participated in 1st annual Tetra Pak Creative Class Challenge. After 2 months of hard work and dedication they are announced to be the proud winners of this years challenge. [www.tetrapakcreativechallenge.com]

In grade 10, the Visual Arts Foundation Major IIA emphasizes learning through practice, building on what students know, and introducing them to new ideas, materials, and processes for artistic thinking and experimentation. Student learning will include the refined application of the elements and principles of design, incorporation of the creative and design process, and the relationship between form and content. Students will also learn about the connection between works of art and their historical contexts.

Drama Arts

This department is the largest in Arts York. There are at least 2 classes of approximately 30 students each per grade. This is a really popular program and the competition for admission is really tough. Over 300 people auditions for it, and only about 70 spots are available. Although curriculum shifts and evolves from year to year, students accepted can look forward to studying aspects of theatre arts including

Mime
Movement
Choral Drama
Scene Writing
Clown
Characterization
Stand Up Comedy
Scene Studies
Shakespeare
Modern Theatre
Film
Stage Production

The program is remarkable in the communal bond students share, partly because of the comrades in arms attitude the program's students have towards each other, the relative freedom students are given to access the department's rooms and resources, the most commonly attributed cause being the yearly retreat to The Kinark Outdoor Center, which gives the community quality bonding time.

Musical Arts

This department is separated into four other categories. You could also be in musical arts-piano, musical arts-winds, musical arts-strings, and musical arts-vocal. Classes are divided into two categories - performance and non-performance. In the performances classes, students will play scales, studies, and other short pieces; in the non-performance classes, components such as music history, rudiments, and harmony are taught.

Students in the Arts York music program are participating in a large music group as well: piano and vocal students in choir, string students in string ensemble, and winds students in band. The groups usually hold two concerts per school in the Markham theatre, one in December and the other in May. The groups have also participated in many music competitions such as the Kiwanis Festival and won many awards.

Graduates from the winds and strings students will reach a RCM Grade 8 level, while piano students will reach a Grade 10 level.

Dance Arts

Dance arts is another popular program in Arts York. Notable graduates include figure skater Emanuel Sandhu.

Sports Program

Besides the schools arts programs, the school also has a respectable athletics program.

These are the following school are as follows (along with championships won in 2005-2006 season) -

4 Basketball teams (Jr. Boys, Sr. Boys, Jr. Girls, Sr. Girls)

Sr. Girls wins YRAA Tier 2 Sr. Basketball.

4 Volleyball teams (Jr. Boys, Sr. Boys, Jr. Girls, Sr. Girls)

Jr. Boys Runner Up in YRAA Jr. Volleyball.

3 Hockey teams (Jr. Boys, Sr. Boys, Girls)

Sr. Boys hockey team wins YRAA Sr. Hockey Championships allowing them to advance to OFSAA.

Girls Field Hockey team

Team wins YRAA Field Hockey allowing them to advance to OFSAA.

2 Badminton teams (Jr., Sr.)
Table Tennis team
Golf team
Boys Soccer team
Girls Rugby team
Swim team

Ranked 3rd overall in YRAA, few individual swimmers advance to OFSAA

Ski and Snowboard team
Boys Baseball team
Girls Slowpitch team
Ultimate Frisbee team
Track and Field team

Scored most points in YRAA, and Central Championships. Advancing to OFSAA bringng 8 medals.

Wrestling team

Former Programs

Unionville High School formally housed other programs other then Arts York. The programs are -

NewMedia

NewMedia was a program that ran for 3 years from 2003 to 2006. Altough it wasn't as popular as it Arts York counterpart, it still was considered respectable program within York Region. Students were introduced and studies extensively into Communication Technology and the study of Graphic Design. There was only one class per grade, approx.30 students per class. The reason for closure was due to the low attendance of the program as well as funding. The program had lack of attendance due to the fact that they only let students in the markham area join the new media program unlike the arts york program thats accepts students from all over York region.

Academics

Unionville High School also has an outstanding academics program. Its rigorous curriculum has prepared its students for university, and many of them have gone on to be very successful at the post-secondary level.

Clubs

Some clubs include

CDC, a club for Chinese Debating
UHS Robotics, a club that builds a robot to compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition
Ecoaction, a club dedicated to the environment and making it the school look nice
Investment, a club that is competing in the Wilfred Laurier Investment Competition
Table Tennis, a club for extracurricular activity of ping pong
Tofu, a club that cooks Asian food
Trained Responders, a club that provides first aid within the school
uDesign & uMedia, two clubs in one, enhancing your skills in Flash technology as well as giving you an opportunity to enter Flash competitions

Sources

This article includes extracts from the York Region District School Board web site and the Arts York course calendar of 2004 and 2005.