Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School
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Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School, sometimes shortened to Kitchener Collegiate Institute and often abbreviated KCI, is a public secondary school in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Its sports teams are known as the Raiders.
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History
The school began in 1855 as the Berlin Senior Boys' Grammar School (Kitchener was known as Berlin at the time), in the downtown area; it occupied space in the Berlin Central School on Frederick Street from 1857 to 1871. In 1876 it moved to its current location (and first permanent home) on King Street West, closer to the Waterloo border. By then it was co-ed and called Berlin High School. It became the Berlin Collegiate and Technical Institute with an expansion in 1904; it changed names along with the city in 1916 (to Kitchener Collegiate and Technical Institute), and adopted its current name in 1923 with a major expansion. Due to cramped conditions, grade 9 classes were held in the downtown Victoria Public School from 1933 to 1951, when the west-wing addition was completed. It was the only public high school in the area until the 1950s.
In 2003, considerable controversy arose when the school board was selecting a high school to close, in order to open a new school in the southwest end of Kitchener (this was required under the provincial funding model of the time). A large public outcry began when the staff report recommended the closure of KCI; further analysis of the financial situation by trustees, however, eliminated the need for a Kitchener school closure.
The school colours are red, yellow, and black (likely adopted from the flag of Germany), and its motto is Veritas Vincat (Latin, May Truth Prevail); until 1916 the motto was Höher Hinauf (German, To the Heights).
Missing image
Kci_bldg.JPG
Current building facade
Alumni
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Noted students of the school include:
- William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada's tenth Prime Minister
- June Callwood, journalist and activist
- Tony Young, AKA Master T of MuchMusic
- Jeremy Ratchford, actor (Cold Case)
- Su Alexanian, musician [1] (http://purplesu.com/)
- Ian Brock, production designer [2] (http://www.dgcodc.ca/cgi/driver.cgi?com=showmember&num=300)
- Scott Hammell, magician and escape artist [3] (http://www.trickstersyndicate.com/bio.htm)
- Art Binkowski, boxer [4] (http://www.artbinkowski.com/)
Links
- Home page (http://kci.wrdsb.on.ca/)
- 150th reunion page (http://www.kci150th.ca/)
Sources
See the Talk page.