Lisgar Collegiate Institute


Lisgar Collegiate Institute is an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board secondary school in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Lisgar Collegiate Institute is located in downtown Ottawa by the Rideau Canal and is only a few blocks away from Canada's Parliament Hill. Lisgar was ranked 24th among all secondary schools in Ontario and 1st in Ottawa by the Fraser Institute in 2017/18. The school serves the neighbourhoods of Sandy Hill, New Edinburgh, Centretown, and Rockcliffe Park, and has many students transferring from other areas, attracted by the school's reputation and prestige. In previous years, parents and students have camped out overnight to secure a "coveted transfer spot" to Lisgar, causing some controversy in the news. Lisgar is known for its gifted student program, and was ranked number one for public schools in Ottawa and 4th in the province by the Fraser Institute in 2016. Its Reach for the Top team won the Canadian national finals in the 2008, 2015 and 2017 seasons. Lisgar has also won the National and International Whiz Quiz Trivia Challenge for the past two years Lisgar's Improv team is also well known for its continued excellence in the Canadian Improv Games, winning the National Tournament back to back in 1999 and 2000 and qualifying for the Canadian National tournament every year since 2004. Lisgar is also home to the student-run Ottawa-Carleton Educational Space Simulation.

History

In 1843, a grammar school with 40 paying students was opened in the Sandy Hill area of Ottawa in a house at the corner of Waller Street and Daly Avenue. In 1859, the school became one of the first in Ontario to admit girls. The school changed locations several times in the first few years, and was renamed first Bytown Grammar School and later Ottawa Grammar School. In 1871 the school was raised to a high school and in 1873 to a collegiate institute, becoming Ottawa Collegiate Institute.
The school found a permanent home in 1873 when a lot at what was then the southern edge of the city was purchased. The school board acquired the land on Biddy Street for $3,200 and paid a squatter $100 to give up any claims on the land. Biddy Street was renamed Lisgar Street in 1880 after Lord Lisgar, an Irishman who served as Canada's second Governor-General. A Gothic Revival style structure, designed by W.T. Thomas and W. Chesterton, was built at a cost of $26,000. Governor General Lord Dufferin laid the cornerstone and the school opened in 1874.
In 1892, the school became the first public secondary school in Ontario to hire a female teacher. Four new classrooms were added on the south side in 1892, moving the front wall towards the street and enclosing the front entrance stairs.
A fire in 1893 caused the school to be temporarily closed. Lisgar was one of a limited number of buildings to survive the Great Ottawa fire. There have been a total of 23 fires at the school, including three major ones: 1893, 1915, and 1942.
In 1903, the east wing was built with eight new classrooms. In 1908, Ottawa architect Edgar Lewis Horwood added a west wing with laboratories, an auditorium, and the main tower. The auditorium balcony is suspended by iron rods which lead to huge beams above the ceiling.
A rifle range for the cadet corps, in the now blocked-off fifth-floor attic, was added in 1912. Students practised shooting there until after World War II when shooting moved to the nearby Cartier Square Drill Hall.
A basement cafeteria was added in 1923. After the school was split in 1922 to form Glebe Collegiate Institute, OCI was renamed Ottawa Lisgar Street Collegiate Institute, which was soon shortened to Lisgar Collegiate Institute. Officially, the school remained OCI for several decades. Since the split, Glebe and Lisgar have been traditional rivals.
In 1951, a new gymnasium was built across the street with a tunnel connecting it to the main building. The tunnel was not open for the use of students for many years, but it was re-opened in October 2015. The new building was enlarged in 1962. The old gym was turned into what is now the cafeteria. The old building and the newer building are now referred to as the North and South buildings, respectively.
In 1953, the current, near-vertical roof was installed over the previous sloping roof. This was done to reduce the build-up of winter ice. The old roof is still there and there is an odd-shaped attic space between them.
In 1957, Lisgar was the first school in Ontario to introduce a special program for gifted students.
In the 1970s, a cash-strapped Ottawa Board of Education decided to close the school and sell its valuable downtown real estate. This action was blocked by community members and alumni, and the school was completely renovated instead. This renovation included a small westward extension to the auditorium to add fire exits which replaced external fire exits on the north side of the auditorium. To meet fire code requirements, the existing west staircase was moved from the stair tower westward to just beside the entrance to the auditorium. The result is that now many windows on the north wall do not line up as intended. The windows in the stair tower had been placed a half-way between floors to align with the landings. These windows now lead into classrooms and floor-aligned windows lead into the stairway.
In 1996, the third floor of the North building was completely renovated and the science labs were modernized. In March 2003, parts of the first and second floors and the basement of the North building were damaged by a water main break that closed the school for a week, coincidentally before the previously-scheduled March Break, thus giving the students two weeks off school. Some minor changes were made to the affected floors in the reconstruction.

Memorial Hall

A brass plaque and print were erected by students and alumni in 1986 to Sergeant Edward James Gibson Holland, VC of The Royal Canadian Dragoons, a graduate of Ottawa Collegiate who was awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery in action during the Boer War at Leliefontein, Komati River, South Africa on November 7, 1900.
The Ottawa Lisgar Collegiate Institute erected a brass plaque which is dedicated to the memory of students of Ottawa Collegiate Institute who gave their lives in the Great War. Another memorial is dedicated to the memory of Lieutenant Alexis Hannum Helmer who was killed in action during the war and was part of the inspiration for In Flanders Fields. Unveiled in 2001, the plaque was erected by the Lisgar Alumni Association.
Another memorial plaque is dedicated to the memory of former Lisgar students who died during the Second World War. A memorial framed poster erected by the school is dedicated to the sixteen Canadians awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery during the Second World War.
Lisgar Collegiate Institute and Vintage Wings of Canada erected a memorial plaque, unveiled in 2008, dedicated to the memory of Pilot Officer David Francis Gaston Rouleau, who died during the Second World War while trying to get to Malta.
The Lisgar Collegiate Institute erected a memorial which is dedicated to the memory of former Lisgar students who died or served during the Korean War.
The Lisgar Collegiate Institute erected a memorial frame including a Canadian flag which was flown in Afghanistan which was presented to Lisgar by LCol Plourde.

Academics

Students have frequently placed highly in mathematics competitions. Lisgar students take part in the University of Waterloo contests, the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge, the Canadian Math Olympiad, and the AMC 12. For instance, they have frequently placed in the top ten amongst .
Students also take part in a lot of science contests. Lisgar offers the chance to take the University of Toronto Biology Exam, Avogadro Chemistry Contest, and Physics Contests. Many students have placed in the 90th percentile and above on these contests.
Lisgar has been the home of the Ottawa-Carleton Educational Space Simulation since 1990. The school is the only one in the region and one of the few in Canada to run such a program. Lisgar was also one of the original members of the now-defunct .

Music

Lisgar has a huge selection of ensembles to take part in. These include the Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Winds, Concert Orchestra, Sinfonia, the Lisgar Symphony Orchestra, String Ensemble, Choir, and Junior and Senior Jazz Bands. In total, there are 10 different groups. These groups take part in many music competitions, including the Ottawa Kiwanis Music Festival, where Lisgar has often taken home gold. Every year, there are two major performances given by all the ensembles, Winter and Spring Music Nights. At these performances, students have the chance to demonstrate the skills they have achieved throughout the year to their parents and other spectators.

Athletics

Lisgar has a large athletics department. Some of the sports Lisgar participates in include Rugby, Soccer, Hockey, Basketball, Rowing, Cross Country, and many others. Each year, tens of athletes are invited to city finals, and provincial finals in their respective sports, and each year, students bring home awards and medals.
Athletic Wall of Fame
One of the many successful under-takings of the 160th Reunion was the establishment of the "Athletic Wall of Fame". There have been three inductions to date, with the third group inducted during the 175th Reunion in May 2018.
2004 Inductees
2009 Inductees
2018 Inductees
Lisgar Collegiate Institute offers many Advanced Placement courses. Apart from and Advanced Placement Spanish, students taking AP courses take an advanced form of a regular course, which provides them with an Ontario Credit, as well as taking the AP exam in May. As of 2016, Lisgar inaugurated its AP Capstone Program which requires students to take AP Seminar and AP Research as well as four other AP Courses with a score greater than 3.
Lisgar has a wide variety of clubs available to its students, including:
Lisgar's Student Council consists of 30 executive member positions. These include the Co-Presidents, Student Senator, Administrator, Communications Director, and 6 elected grade representatives, with 5 committees consisting of the remaining 19 positions. Student Council is responsible for running a variety of school-wide events and activities throughout the course of the school year, including the well-known Annual United Way Pancake Breakfast, the week-long 'Battle of the Grades', and the Canned Food Drive for the Ottawa Centretown Food Bank.
In 2006, the school's Reach for the Top team became the first Canadian team to participate in the NAQT High School National Championships, placing 25th. In 2008, the Lisgar Reach team became the first team to qualify for both the Canadian Reach for the Top finals and the NAQT High School National Championships in Chicago, placing second in Ontario for Reach and first in their qualifying division for NAQT. Electing to attend the Reach Nationals in Edmonton, Lisgar came from behind to beat two-time champion University of Toronto Schools 420–415 for the national title. In 2010, Lisgar was able to qualify two teams for the NAQT Chicago tournament.
Lisgar's Improv Team, founded in 1997 and affectionately known as 'Jimmy', has a reputation for being of the highest calibre. Regular attendees of the National Festival of the Canadian Improv Games and National Champions in 1999, 2000, and 2014, Jimmy has been a pillar of the Ottawa Improv community for years.

Notable alumni