Ridgemont High School (Ottawa)
| Ridgemont High School | |
|---|---|
 Knowledge is Power |
|
| Address | |
| 2597 Alta Vista Drive Ottawa, Ontario, K1V7T3, Canada |
|
| Information | |
| School board | Ottawa Carleton District School Board |
| Religious affiliation | None |
| Principal | Richard King |
| Vice principal | Shannon Adams, Ann Taillon |
| Administrator | Brenda Beattie |
| Chief custodian | Dale Lusk |
| Staff | 91 (2005) |
| Grades | 9 to 12 |
| Language | English and French |
| Area | Ottawa South |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Mascot | Spartan |
| Team name | Ridgemont Spartans |
| Colours | Green, White, Grey |
| Founded | 1958 |
| Enrollment | 850 (2005) |
| Feeder schools | Roberta Bondar Public School, Alta Vista Public School, Featherston Public School, Elizabeth Park Public School, Blossom Park Public School |
| Homepage | http://ridgemonths.ocdsb.ca/ |
Ridgemont High School. It is an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board secondary school in Ottawa, Canada. The school is located at 2597 Alta Vista Drive in the Alta Vista neighbourhood of Ottawa. It is next door to St. Patrick's High School, a Roman Catholic high school, and Charles Hulse Elementary School, also in the OCDSB.
History
Work began on Ridgemont in 1957 when Prime Minister John Diefenbaker laid the cornerstone. The school opened the next year, one of a series of composite schools built by the Ottawa Collegiate Board during the 1950s and 1960s to deal with the baby boom and increasing school attendance. Ridgemont was planned and designed at the same time as Rideau High School and Laurentian High School. Ridgemont opened a year earlier than the other two.
Ridgemont is a semestered school offering many programs, such as French immersion, English as a Second Language, ECL (Everyday Community Living), and international languages (Somali, Arabic, Spanish).
Ridgemont derives the basis of its population from the surrounding neighbourhoods of Ottawa South. The Alta Vista, Ledbury, and South Keys areas of Ottawa South all feed into the school. Ridgemont is known for its high ethnic diversity: there are over 40 different languages spoken by the 850 students at the school.
Ridgemont is twinned with Bokoro High School, Butha-Buthe, Lesotho. This twinning is helped by the organization Help Lesotho and aims to promote literacy.
Ridgemont's 50th Anniversary was celebrated on October 5 and 6, 2007, with a reunion of school alumni.
Notable alumni
- Ian Affleck (1971), Professor, Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia[1]
- Ken Anderson (1971), Writer and Senior Public Relations Counsel[2]
- Anne Balcer (1971), later Commonwealth Scholar, Doctorate in Economics, Cambridge University; later executive with JP Morgan[3]
- Ian Beckstead (1977), CFL centre for Ottawa Rough Riders and Toronto Argonauts
- Philip Victor Bova; musician, engineer and record producer; did not graduate.[4]
- Christopher Hargadon, Costume Designer (The Kennedys, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, A Nero Wolfe Mystery; also 2006 Emmy Award nominee)[5]
- Thomas A. Houston (1971), Lawyer and Managing Partner, Ottawa Office, Fraser Milner Casgrain[6]
- JW-Jones, award-winning blues singer
- Rob Khurana (1987) Los Angeles-based composer of soundtrack music for film and television.[7]
- Julie Nesrallah (1987) Opera Singer
- Colleen Peterson (1950–1996), member of 3's a Crowd, later notable solo Canadian singer-songwriter and member of Quartette; did not graduate.[8][9]
- Holly Small (1971), Choreographer and Professor, Faculty of Fine Arts, York University[10]
- Michael Taylor (1970; 1951–2010), former Executive Vice President, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited[11]
- Tim Wynne-Jones (1967), multi award-winning author of children's literature.[12]
- Steve Northover (1963), ACM award winner, father of SWT (The Standard Widget Toolkit).[13]
References
- Keith, Janet. The Collegiate Institute Board of Ottawa: A Short History, 1843-1969. Ottawa: Kent, 1969.
Notes
- ^ Profile of Dr. Ian Affleck; www.physics.ubc.ca.
- ^ Profile of Ken Anderson; www.deltamedia.ca.
- ^ New York Times, October 31, 1982, Anne Balcer Is Married; www.nytimes.com.
- ^ Profile of Phil Bova; www.sageelectronics.ca.
- ^ Filmography of Christopher Hargadon; www.imdb.com.
- ^ Profile of Thomas Houston; www.fmc-law.com.
- ^ See, for example, Rob Khurana Filmography; www.imdb.com; see also www.robkhurana.com.
- ^ Jaime Vernon, with notes from Richard Patterson, Tim Morawetz and Greg Simpson,Profile of Colleen Peterson. The Canadian Pop Encyclopedia; www.jam.canoe.ca.
- ^ Colleen Peterson MySpace Page; www.myspace.com.
- ^ Profile of Professor Holly Small; www.yorku.ca.
- ^ Death Notice for Michael Taylor; www.legacy.com.
- ^ Tim Wynne Jones Official Website; www.timwynne-jones.com.
- ^ Eclipse.org Website for SWT; www.eclipse.org/swt.
External links
Coordinates: 45°22′34″N 75°39′35″W / 45.376035°N 75.659773°W
