Stanstead College

Stanstead College
Location
Stanstead, Quebec
Canada
Coordinates 45°00′42″N 72°05′41″W / 45.0118°N 72.0947°W / 45.0118; -72.0947Coordinates: 45°00′42″N 72°05′41″W / 45.0118°N 72.0947°W / 45.0118; -72.0947
Information
School type Independent, day and boarding, university-preparatory high school
Established 1872
Headmaster Michael Wolfe
Faculty 42
Enrollment 235
Campus 600 acres (2.4 km2)
Colour(s) Red and White
Website www.stansteadcollege.com

Stanstead College is an independent boarding school in Stanstead, Quebec, Canada for boys and girls in Grades 7 through 12.[1] The school is located on a 600-acre (2.4 km2) campus in Quebec's Eastern Townships - just north of the Canada–United States border - and enrolls approximately 240 students.

The school was established in 1872 as Stanstead Wesleyan College. The school was founded as a co-educational school. In 1959 it became 'boys only'. In 1979, the school returned to its original co-educational status.[2]

History

In June 1871, the Wesleyan Conference of Canada selected what was then Stanstead Plain, Quebecas the location of its new college for the Eastern Townships.[3]

Construction of the school began in the fall of 1872, with official incorporation of Stanstead Wesleyan College taking place on December 4, 1872. First classes were not held, however, until January 1874, with Rev. A. Lee Holmes serving as the first principal.[4]

Initially the school was financed through the sale of shares and tuition. However, due to the slow sales of shares and low tuition, the stockholders were forced to transfer the property of Stanstead Wesleyan College to the Montreal Conference of the Methodist Church of Canada in December 1876. Association with the Methodist Church of Canada (and later the United Church of Canada) continued until the 1980s, with the school reincorporating as a fully independent and non-denominational Stanstead College.[5]

In addition to providing education to boarding students, Stanstead Wesleyan College also served as the local Protestant high school. In 1903, the Holmes Model School was opened, serving as the local grade school until Sunnyside School opened in 1952.

The College also operated the Bugbee Business College and the Eastern Townships Conservatory of Music until 1958.

In 1938, a fire destroyed the College’s main building. Its replacement, Colby House, opened in 1940.[6]

During World War II, Stanstead College hosted a number of evacuees from Oldfeld School in Swanage, Dorset.[7]

In 1951, Pierce Hall was destroyed by fire.[8]

In 1959, Stanstead College became an all-boys residential school and remained so until 1979.[9]

In 1977, after Quebec adopted Bill 101, Stanstead College became fully independent by choosing to no longer accept subsidies from the Quebec government. The decision allowed the school to continue admitting francophone students without certificates of eligibility.[10]

In 2001, the school’s Rec Hall was destroyed by fire, replaced eight months later by the new Eric T. Webster Student Centre.[11]

Working in collaboration with the Town of Stanstead and with grants from the federal and provincial governments, the College opened the Pat Burns Arena in September 2011.[12]

Facilities

There are four residences on campus for boarding students: Davis House (senior boys); Webster House (senior girls); Bugbee House (junior boys); and Colby House (junior girls)

Construction will begin in 2018 on a fifth residence. This will be a co-ed residence exclusively for Grade 12 students, with boys and girls living in separate wings with a shared common area. It will open in 2019.[13]

The campus also includes the LeBaron Dining Hall, the W. John Mackay Gymnasium, the Amaron Gymnasium, the Pat Burns Arena, Pierce Hall, Holmes Model School, Centenary Church, a health centre, a physio clinic, Alumni House, faculty housing, athletic fields and numerous academic facilities.[14]

Athletics

Involvement in the athletics program is mandatory in all three terms for all students, in accordance with their age, ability and interests. Despite being a small school, Stanstead College fields an impressive number of interscholastic teams and has achieved considerable success at the regional, provincial and national level.

In 2014, the senior girls soccer team won the school's first-ever CAIS national tournament title at BCS.

The senior boys basketball team won three consecutive Visser Provincial Basketball Tournaments (2014, 2015, 2016), while the senior girls won the MacLeod Provincial Basketball Tournament in 2017 for the first time ever, repeating in 2017.

The school also operates an elite varsity hockey program for boys and girls. The boys compete in the Midwest Prep Hockey League, while the girls compete in the North American Prep Hockey Association, winning their league and playoff championships in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

In 2012, Stanstead College senior Mark Jankowski was drafted in the first round, 21st overall, by the Calgary Flames. Other sports include soccer, cross-country running, basketball, squash, tennis, swimming, rugby, track, badminton, volleyball (senior girls) and lacrosse.

References

  1. ↑ "About Stanstead College".
  2. ↑ "History of Stanstead College".
  3. ↑ MacDonald, Joan (1977). The Stanstead College story. Stanstead, Que: Board of Trustees of Stanstead College, pp 5-6
  4. ↑ MacDonald, Joan (1977). The Stanstead College story. Stanstead, Que: Board of Trustees of Stanstead College, p 6
  5. ↑ MacDonald, Joan (1977). The Stanstead College story. Stanstead, Que: Board of Trustees of Stanstead College, p 8
  6. ↑ MacDonald, Joan (1977). The Stanstead College story. Stanstead, Que: Board of Trustees of Stanstead College, pp 113-116
  7. ↑ MacDonald, Joan (1977). The Stanstead College story. Stanstead, Que: Board of Trustees of Stanstead College, pp 123-124
  8. ↑ MacDonald, Joan (1977). The Stanstead College story. Stanstead, Que: Board of Trustees of Stanstead College, p 116
  9. ↑ MacDonald, Joan (1977). The Stanstead College story. Stanstead, Que: Board of Trustees of Stanstead College, pp 28-29
  10. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=VnuxuLaQPLMC&dat=19770901&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
  11. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=VnuxuLaQPLMC&dat=20010307&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
  12. ↑ https://www.ctvnews.ca/hockey-arena-named-after-pat-burns-officially-opens-1.702655
  13. ↑ https://archive.org/details/RW2018A
  14. ↑ https://www.stansteadcollege.com

Further reading

Chronological order of publication (oldest first)

  • MacDonald, Joan (1977). The Stanstead College story. Stanstead, Que: Board of Trustees of Stanstead College.
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