Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute

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Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute
Address
135 Overlea Blvd Toronto, Ontario, M3C 1B3, Canada
Information
School board	Toronto District School Board
Superintendent	Michael Smith
Area trustee	Gerri Gershon
Principal	Clara Williams
Vice principal	Paul Wragett Elizabeth Mayhew Deborah Blair
Administrator	Christine Smith
School type	Public high school
Grades	9-12
Language	English
Area	East York
Founded	1973
Enrollment	1753 (Spring 2005)
Communities served	Thorncliffe Park, Flemingdon Park
Feeder schools	Valley Park Middle School
Homepage	http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/marcgarneau/

Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute is a high school in Flemingdon Park, Toronto, Ontario, under the TDSB. The school's multicultural environment combined with its large size enables it to have a varying student body along with varying student activities. The school is best known for the TOPS program.

1 History
2 TOPS Program
3 References
4 External Links

[edit] History

Originally named Overlea Secondary School, MGCI opened its doors in 1972 as one of the first open concept schools in Canada. On October 16, 1987 it was rechristened Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute after Canada's first astronaut Marc Garneau. It is host school to the TOPS program and from time to time has offered pilot courses in Astronomy, Science Journalism and Cisco Networking.

In 1993, MGCI was honoured with the Roberta Bondar Science and Technology Award in recognition of the school's achievements in numerous student programs, particularly its SEDS chapter. Renovations to the school in 1998 removed many of the open concept elements of the school's design.

[edit] TOPS Program

Marc Garneau has been noted by many schools across Canada and has been ranked very highly. The TOPS (Talented Offerings for Programs in the Sciences) program is a program only for the school and is highly recognizable. This program is exceptional for the studies of Science, Math and the Arts.

In 2004, Maclean's ranked highly of MGCI. Students from the program have been awarded numerous scholarships of over $1,000,000.

[edit] Application And Entrance

To gain acceptance into the program a grade 8 student must apply online or at the school during December or early January. Based on entrance exam results, the students' first term marks, and teacher referrals, 60 students will be selected for the program. A student is allowed to drop out of the program and attend their home school at any point once they are selected.

[edit] The Program

The students who are part of this program will attend Marc Garneau as their high school. Large percentages of their courses will be considered enriched (for example, the course code will be ENG2D3 for grade 10 English as opposed to ENG2D1 which is regular grade 10 academic English). For most of these courses the TOPS students will be working together, separated from their other peers at MGCI. However for optional courses such as Drama, Computer Engineering, Health and Physical Education, etc, they will have the opportunity to mingle with the other students of Marc Garneau.

[edit] Recognition

TOPS students have received a numerous scholarships and science fair awards. Five of the teachers in the TOPS program have also received the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence. In June 2004, Maclean's magazine stated that Marc Garneau was the best high school in Canada, and credited the TOPS program for it.^[1] The September 2006 issue of Toronto Life also stated that Marc Garneau was the best high school in Toronto for math and science, once again largely crediting the TOPS program.