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 , , Canada | |
| Coordinates | 49.2614°N 123.0517°W |
| Information | |
| School type | Secondary school |
| Motto | "Semper Sursum" (Ever Upwards) |
| Founded | 1916 |
| School board | School District 39 Vancouver |
| Superintendent | Suzanne Hoffman |
| Area trustee | Fraser Ballantyne |
| School number | 03939011 |
| Principal | Roberto Moro |
| Grades | 8-12 |
| Enrollment | 1620 Students |
| Language | English, French immersion |
| Area | Mount Pleasant Grandview-Woodland Hastings-Sunrise Renfrew-Collingwood |
| Colour(s) | Forest Green and Gold |
| Mascot | Talisman (Wiki Tiki Tribe Member) |
| Team name | Van Tech Talismen |
| Public transit access | 9, 7, 16, Millennium Line (Skytrain), 27, 99 - (Select Trips Only) |
| Website | vantech |
| Last updated: March 2020 | |
History
The school originally opened in 1916, for boys only, in the Fairview neighbourhood. It then moved downtown until 1928 when it settled into its present location in East Vancouver. Starting in 1940, girls were admitted. 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.[1]
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.[2] Tennis courts were built off Slocan St. and Vancouver Technical is set to receive Vancouver's first regulation Track and Field Training Facility.[3]
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
- 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
Popular culture
- Exterior shots of the school were used to represent Smallville High School in Smallville. The school was also used as a filming location in Scary Movie, Paycheck, Supernatural, iZombie, Psych, Supergirl, The Killing, and She's the Man starring Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum.[4]