Vancouver Technical Secondary School

Vancouver Technical Secondary School, often referred to as Van Tech, is a public secondary school located on the East Side of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Vancouver Technical Secondary School
Vancouver Technical Secondary from East Broadway
Address
2600 East Broadway

Vancouver
,
British Columbia
,
V5M 1Y5

Canada
Coordinates49.2614°N 123.0517°W / 49.2614; -123.0517
Information
School typeSecondary school
Motto"Semper Sursum"
(Ever Upwards)
Founded1916
School boardSchool District 39 Vancouver
SuperintendentSuzanne Hoffman
Area trusteeFraser Ballantyne
School number03939011
PrincipalRoberto Moro
Grades8-12
Enrollment1620 Students
LanguageEnglish, French immersion
AreaMount Pleasant
Grandview-Woodland
Hastings-Sunrise
Renfrew-Collingwood
Colour(s)Forest Green and Gold         
MascotTalisman (Wiki Tiki Tribe Member)
Team nameVan Tech Talismen
Public transit access9, 7, 16, Millennium Line (Skytrain), 27, 99 - (Select Trips Only)
Websitevantech.vsb.bc.ca
Last updated: March 2020

History

Vancouver Technical School opened in September 1916 as a boys-only school and was located in the basement of King Edward Highschool on 12th and Oak. It was the province's first vocational school and was lead by j. George Lister, who would later be called the "Founder of Technical Education in BC.[1] The school then moved to the Labour Temple, located on the corner of Homer and Dusmuir.[2]

As enrollment grew, plans were developed for a modern technical school along Broadway. The building was designed by architects Townley and Matheson to include large technical shops, laboratories, cafeteria, auditorium, gymnasium, and swimming pool. However, the swimming pool was never completed due to lack of funds. The school moved to the new building in 1928, where it is located to this day. Girls were admitted into the school starting in 1940 and were given their own wing on the East side.

Major seismic upgrades to the school's five buildings began in 2005 and was completed in 2008 at a cost of $40 million.[3] The seismic upgrades reduced the available floorspace, leading to the relocation of classroom and workshops. Classrooms and workshops were relocated or replaced during the upgrade as there was less floor space available. this reduced the school's capacity from 2,100 students to 1,700. The auditorium's interior was also renovated during the upgrade, with the funds being raised by students' parents.[4]

One of the school's founders (and principal from 1930 until 1944), James George Sinclair, is also the great-grandfather of 23rd Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Mini Schools

Vancouver Technical offers a wide range of mini school programs.

Summit is a five-year mini school program as of 2018, which focuses on enriching the four academic courses: Math, Science, Social Studies and English. The Summit program offers accelerated sciences and mathematics, with students completing Chemistry 11 and Pre-Calculus 11 in grade 10. Students in the Summit program engage in many extra-curricular activities including a three-day camp at the beginning of the school year, a week-long horseback riding camp in their Grade 10 year, and a Europe trip in grade 11 or 12.[5]

Flex is a five-year mini school program which focuses on the humanities, English and Social Studies. Students in Flex take unique classes for the first 3 years in the program and often go onto taking History and Philosophy. Flex 10 students also get a chance to go to New York or Washington DC.

Vancouver Technical also housed the Hairdressing ACE-IT program offered to senior students to receive work experience within a specialized field 1/2 of their time at school. This program has since concluded in June 2016.

Program Highlights

Fine Arts Classes

Music

There are a variety of music courses offered at Van Tech. These include, concert band, concert choir, string orchestra, jazz band, vocal jazz, symphony orchestras, chamber choir, drum line as well as a few others. These ensembles perform a total of 7 times during the year with 2 concerts in Winter, Fine Arts Week, and the Spring and a Jazz Cabaret featuring their Jazz ensembles. More information is available at vtmusic.ca

Visual Arts

Visual Art classes available include drawing, painting, photography and ceramics.

Theatre

Within the field theatre, students start in grade 8 in a drama class which is available up to grade 10. Students in grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 are allowed to take a theatre production class which will put on an annual play. Another class that is also offered is stage production.

Technical Classes

Shop Classes

These classes include wood, metal and jewelry. Students get the opportunity to learn hands on with the materials to build their own projects. Past projects include, a stool, cutting boards, jewelry boxes, safes, belt buckles, rings, and pendants. In senior shop classes, students submit project plans to craft their own ideas from kitchen cabinets and electric guitars to desks and chests.

Drafting

Using computer software and hands on techniques students get a comprehensive look into the world of structure. These courses include 3D printing and CAD.

Graphics

Using current design programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, students can design their own projects, which include buttons, decals and basic Photoshop work. Another part of this is the Van Tech yearbook, which is designed in house by students in the same shop.

Electronics

In electronics, students are taught about circuits and robotics. Van Tech has attended and competed in robotics tournaments.

Programming

In programming, students learn the basics of coding in Python.

Foods and Nutrition and Cafeteria

Students have the opportunity to learn food skills through comprehensive food and nutrition courses and cafeteria. In cafeteria, students are on rotation learning about the business of the cafeteria from preparing, cooking, selling, and cleaning for the meals served at breaks and lunch. In food and nutrition courses, students learn through recipes and demonstrations the preparation of meals that pertain to portioning, food costs, nutrition, and cooking and baking.

Fashion and Home Economics

In these courses, students learn to work with fabric to make different projects from pillows and aprons in 8th grade to evening gowns, sweaters and shirts in higher grades.

Facilities

With its seismic upgrade from 2005 - 2008, many classrooms were moved around and their 500 wing was demolished. With this, Vancouver Technical was a recipient to a $1,000,000 artificial turf field that was approved in 2006.[6] Tennis courts were built off Slocan St. and Vancouver Technical is set to receive Vancouver's first regulation Track and Field Training Facility.[7]

Notable alumni
  • Greg Joy, Olympic medalist - track and field
  • Sam Sullivan, former mayor of the city of Vancouver, MLA for Vancouver False Creek
  • John Ferguson (1938–2007), NHL player/coach
  • Quinn Angell, Professional ESports Gamer
  • Dean Malkoc, NHL player for the Vancouver Canucks, Boston Bruins, and New York Islanders
  • Julia Grosso, Soccer player for Canadian women's national team
  • Terry Driver, AKA “the Abbotsford Killer”
  • Zenia Marshall, actress and singer
gollark: If it's a string of two different characters, it basically *is* binary.
gollark: Not very secure, then.
gollark: Generally encryption is considered secure if someone who knows how it works but doesn't have the key can't break it.
gollark: Well, I mean, comparatively easy.
gollark: The limiting factor here is probably your key thing. There are only 4 billion possibilities for that, which is easy.

References
  1. "Vancouver Technical School". VancouverHeritageFoundation.org. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  2. "School History". vsb.bc.ca. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  3. colbornegroup.com https://www.colbornegroup.com/our-work/heritage/vancouver-technical-secondary-school-seismic-upgrade/. Retrieved 21 July 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. McCabe, Samantha; Vescera, Zak (11 February 2019). "hy Quake Proofing Schools Is Shaking up Resistance". The Tyee. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  5. https://vtsummit.wixsite.com/summit
  6. "Vancouver Technical Secondary School - Playing Field License Agreement" (PDF).
  7. Chan, Kenneth (20 May 2020). "Vancouver to build its first regulation competitive track-and-field training facility". DailyHive.
  8. https://moviemaps.org/locations/3b
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