Colonel By Secondary School

Colonel By Secondary School is a high school in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is a non-semestered school, and was the only English public school in Ottawa that offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma programme until Merivale High School began its IB programme in September 2019. Colonel By has a reputation locally and provincially as an academically rigorous school. In the 2018–19 school year, it was ranked the sixth best secondary school in Ontario by the Fraser Institute.

History

Colonel By Secondary School was unveiled on March 10, 1972. The school was designed by Craig and Kohler architects with P.E. Brule Co. Ltd. contractors. The school was erected by the Carleton Board of Education. The school is dedicated to Lieutenant-Colonel John By. J.L. McDonald served as the first principal of Colonel By Secondary School.

Colonel By Secondary School was named for Lieutenant Colonel John By, the Royal Engineers officer who supervised the building of Ottawa's Rideau Canal and 1826–1832 and founded Bytown. A historical plaque located on the grounds of Colonel By Secondary School states, "Colonel John By (1779–1836) was born and educated in England and first came to Canada in 1802. As a member of the Royal Engineers, he worked on the first small locks on the St. Lawrence River as well as the fortifications of Quebec. He returned to England in 1811 and fought in the peninsular War, but came back to Canada in 1826 to spend five summers heading the construction of the Rideau Canal, the 200 km long waterway which now connects Ottawa and Kingston. This formidable task included the building of about 50 dams and 47 locks, without the aid of modern equipment. But the amazing feat was never recognized in Colonel By's own lifetime, and he died three years after its completion, never imagining that many thousands of Canadians would greatly admire and value his achievement in the centuries to come. Colonel By's attributes of courage, determination, and diligence, inspire us

to emulate him, in the hopes that we too may somehow serve our country in a way which will benefit future generations."

Mathematics

Colonel By has had a history of strong math students who have performed well on national math contests administered by the University of Waterloo, as well as other local and national mathematics contests. For instance, in the 2009 Grade 9 Pascal's Math Contest, Colonel By came first in the city and fifth in Canada. However, its prominence in Olympiad mathematics has been more limited, with few outstanding results on the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge that have warranted invitation to the Canadian Mathematical Olympiad.

This changed in the 2008–2009 school year with the arrival of freshman James Rickards. Despite his youth, he received an invitation to write the 2009 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad and scored in the 3rd division. His arrival coincided with the school registering for its first writing of the American Mathematics Competitions (a lobbying effort by the senior students at the time that was finally granted). Over half the students who wrote the AMC qualified for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination. James Rickards was the sole participant who went on to receive an invitation to write the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad.

In the 2009–2010 school year, James Rickards continued to represent Colonel By on the national scale as a sophomore. He placed 2nd in the 2010 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad, outperforming returning members of the 2009 Canadian International Mathematical Olympiad team. Surprisingly, the Canadian Mathematical Society did not invite James Rickards to the 2010 Canadian IMO team, making him the first student in over a decade to have placed 2nd on the CMO, but not to have been announced a member of the IMO team. Nonetheless, in 2012, James Rickards was announced as a member of the Canadian IMO team, making him the first Colonel By student in history to have received said honour.

Computer Science

Colonel By has produced students who have performed well on the national CCC, administered by the University of Waterloo. Notably, Zeyu Chen achieved a perfect 75/75 on the CCC Senior and was invited to the CCO in 2021, where he achieved a Silver medal. Zeyu Chen is also known for his performance on Advent of Code (AoC), in which he solidified places 43rd (2020) and 37th (2021) out of over 200 000 participants.

Music and arts

Music

Colonel By is also home to the "C-Flats", Colonel By's award-winning vocal jazz ensemble. The ensemble won the gold award as well as 1st place standing in the vocal jazz category of the New York City Heritage Festival in 2014, and were invited to perform at Carnegie Hall. The C-Flats were also given the opportunity to perform at the National Day of Honour on Parliament Hill in May 2014. Footage of the record-breaking 200m finals can be seen here In his final year, Oluwasegun set the senior provincial record in the men's 200m running a personal best of 20.99 seconds. Footage of the record-breaking 200m finals can be seen here. He opted to not take a victory lap and went off to studies in university. Since then, he has had continued success, including the opportunity to run in the same relay race against Usain Bolt.

The track and field team has continued to progress and in 2010, it sent an Ottawa school board best 19 athletes and 5 relay teams to OFSAA.

Swimming

In 2008, Nathan Lam and Brian Chen tied for first place in the junior boys' 100-metre freestyle with a time of 58.48 seconds at the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association swimming championships.

In 2011, Nathan Lam, Kashtin Patterson, Cody Lombardo and Brian Chen placed eighth in the senior boys' 4x50-metre freestyle relay at the Ontario Federal of School Athletic Association short-course swimming championships in Toronto.

Clubs and fundraising

The Colonel By Open Eyes club hosts the Community Pancake Breakfast, an annual fundraising event in the community.

Reach for the Top and Quizbowl

The Colonel By Reach for the Top team won provincials in 2001, and has attended Reach for the Top and Quiz Bowl events consistently. The Reach for the Top team at Colonel By participated in provincials in 2014, coming in the top ten. Colonel By's Quiz Bowl team has also consistently achieved success, winning the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 Quiz Bowl Provincial Championships. The team also tied for 21st at the 2015 High School National Championship Tournament.

Notable alumni

Bryan Adams, musician
Fedor Andreev, figure skater
Ryan Bell, basketball player
Patrick Biggs, alpine skier
Svitlana Demchenko, chess player
Ajay Fry, television personality
Tom Green, Comedian, actor, television personality
Rene Konga, college football defensive tackle
Amber MacArthur, television personality.
Anne-Marie MacDonald, author, television host
Vanessa Morgan, actress
John Morris, curler
Deborah Raji, computer scientist, activist
Joel A. Sutherland, author
Isabelle Weidemann, speed skater
Qiyu Zhou, chess player, Internet personality