St. Joseph's High School (Barrie)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saint Joseph's High School In Barrie in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. The school is informally referred to as St. Joe's. The school mascot is a jaguar.

[edit] Recent Construction

In 2001, the school began construction of a new, two-story wing to accommodate the growing influx of students. The construction did not complete soon enough, however, and the school was soon faced with the problem of a ballooning student population in an inadequate facility. During the construction, overflow classes were relocated to portable classrooms, as well as bussed to a nearby "teaching annex", located on Bell Farm Road, approximately ten minutes from the school. Students were asked to share lockers to accommodate the space shortage. The school ran lunch periods in shifts throughout the day, as the cafeteria was ill-equipped to hold even half of its students. The wing opened in September 2003, complete with new music and art rooms, three new computer labs, a recording and green-screen studio, an extension on the existing cafeteria, a darkroom, as well as many new classrooms and hundreds of additional lockers.

[edit] "The Sandal Scandal"

In Spring 2005, more than 200 students walked out in protest of the school administration's prohibition of certain types of sandals. Several local newspapers and radio stations reported the incident, which left more than half the current student council barred from classes because of their footwear. Students gathered around the front entrance to the school, holding signs that read "Jesus wore sandals; why can't we?" The following year, the dress code was changed to allow sandals without heel straps.

[edit] Anti-Administrative Counterculture Movement

Between February 2005 - June 2006, the school was faced with an incursion of eccentric, egregious, and cryptic vandalism that is widely percieved to be the work of a small group of students. The first major act of vandalism occured in February of 2005, with the words "FUCK CARING" emblazoned in black spray paint across a wall facing the school. The graffiti was quickly cleaned by school administrators. Unfortunately, the school was targeted a second time the following month, this time reading "ZEIG HEIL CARDELLI" (sic). It is assumed that this was in reference to the school's current Vice Principal and resident disciplinarian, Vince Carderelli. In the Spring of 2005, the doors of the school's student washrooms were targeted. A small, rhyming "riddle" was glued to the back of both female and male washroom stall doors (visible to the stall's occupant), warning of an impending act of perniciousness. The local police were called in to investigate. The following week, the school's front doors were spray-painted black, and the words "FUCK YOU" written on the front steps. Throughout the 2005/2006 school year, the staff and students were treated to a variety of brightly-coloured posters, put up around the school by these anonymous individuals. The copy on said guerilla marketing varied from poster to poster. Slogans used included; "Hey, do you speak Klingon?" and "It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man." As well as these, photocopies of what is believed to be the buttocks of the student perpetrators were plastered in hallways and bathrooms around the school. Because both gender bathrooms were targeted, this is believed to be the work of a group. These acts of vandalism are believed to be linked to the same student group, though the perpetrators were never caught.

[edit] Alumni

Notable St. Joe's alumni include model Lindsay McCallum and supermodel Jessica Stam.

[edit] External Links

Official School Website: http://smcdsb.on.ca/sjo/