Lord Byng Secondary School
| Lord Byng Secondary School | |
|---|---|
|
Custos Morum (Latin) Guardian of Morals | |
| Address | |
|
3939 West 16th Avenue Vancouver, British Columbia, V5R 3C9 Canada | |
| Coordinates | 49°15′31″N 123°11′32″W / 49.258634°N 123.192112°WCoordinates: 49°15′31″N 123°11′32″W / 49.258634°N 123.192112°W |
| Information | |
| School type | Public, high school |
| Founded | 1925 |
| School board | School District 39 Vancouver |
| Superintendent | Steve Cardwell |
| Area trustee | Sharon Gregson |
| School number | 03939038 |
| Administrator | Rita Nardi[1] |
| Principal | Jeoff Taylor [1] |
| Grades | 8-12 |
| Enrollment | 1268[2] (2014) |
| Language | English |
| Area | West Point Grey |
| Colour(s) | Scarlet and grey |
| Team name | Grey Ghosts |
| Website |
byng |
Lord Byng Secondary School is a public secondary school located in the affluent West Point Grey neighbourhood on the west side of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The school opened in 1925 and was named in honour of The Lord Byng of Vimy, a hero of Vimy Ridge as well as the Gallipoli Campaign, and was largely responsible for the incorporation of tanks on a large scale at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. At the time the school opened, Lord Byng was the Governor General of Canada. The school is widely renowned in the Greater Vancouver region for its selective Byng Arts mini-school program, as well as for its varsity sports programs and wide assortment of Advanced Placement and Enriched courses.
The school was expanded and upgraded in 2003 with a library and gymnasium, as well as studios and classrooms.
In the 2005-2006 school year, Byng Art's Theatre Company and the school gained national attention and respect for staging the play The Laramie Project after the Surrey School Board banned the play.[3]
Byng Arts Mini School
The Byng Arts Mini School is a program for students that places artistic development at the core of the high school experience through enrichment in the fine arts as well as academics. Traditionally, students have specialized in Visual Arts, Band, Strings, or Theatre, but options have expanded to include Literary Arts, Media Arts, and Choir.
The school offers a program that is designed for students who wish to direct their energies and passions towards the arts, to work within a community of students who share their interests, and to maintain strong academic achievement.
The program promotes academic and artistic excellence through curricular and extracurricular activities in the fine arts, literary arts and applied fine arts.[4]
Lord Byng sports
Lord Byng sports teams are named for their school mascot the Grey Ghost. Lord Byng sports teams include Cross-country, Bantam Boys Rugby, Juvenile Boys Rugby, Bantam Girls Volleyball, Juv/Junior Girls Volleyball, Senior Girls Volleyball, Swimming, Girls Basketball, Bantam Girls Basketball, Juvenile Girls Basketball, Jr/Senior Girls Basketball, Boys Basketball, Bantam Boys Basketball, Juv/Junior Boys Basketball, Senior Boys Basketball, Bantam Boys Volleyball, Grade 8/Juvenile Girls Soccer, Senior Girls Soccer (Tier II), Girls Premier Soccer (Tier I), Tennis, Gymnastics, Ultimate, Girls Softball, Track & Field, Junior Boys Rugby, Senior Boys Rugby, Badminton, and Golf as well as inter-mural sports.
Some of their recent wins include their Cross Country team's Team Aggregate Championship award and the Grade 8 Boys Rugby City Championship for defeating Charles Tupper 15-12 in the finals. They also won the Tier II Senior Girls Basketball City Championships in the 2011 - 2012 season.[5][6]
Lord Byng Music Department
Under the direction of the Fine Arts department head, Scott MacLennan, Lord Byng has one of the best music programs in the Lower Mainland. Many of the groups, including the high-level Senior Honour Orchestra and Senior Wind Ensemble, have consistently placed first or gold in provincial and national competitions.
Under the direction of Odette Kurth, Lord Byng's strings ensembles have won over 25 Kiwanis Festival Gold Awards (Provincial Competition) and three Gold Awards from the National Competition MusicFest. In 2008, the Senior Honour Orchestra won the trophy for first place in the North West Orchestra Competition in Portland, Oregon, and in 2010, both Junior and Senior Honour Orchestras received gold standing in the Heritage Music Festival in Seattle, Washington. The Senior Honour Orchestra were invited to compete in the 2012 American String Teachers Association National Orchestra Festival in Atlanta,[7] where they placed second against advanced American school orchestras.
In March 2014, under the baton of Odette Kurth, the flagship orchestra, the Senior Honours Orchestra, competed in the National School Orchestra Finals in the prestigious Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, in New York City. This orchestra competed against several American orchestras and was crowned first-place champion of the 2014 Orchestra Cup. Trophies brought back include the National Orchestra Cup, Best Solo Violinist Award and Best String Orchestra Award.
The Lord Byng Symphony Orchestra is one of the few public school symphony orchestras in the province. Students are expected to perform unabridged symphonies and pieces. A few grade 12 soloists (at least one per term) are chosen to perform concertos.[8] For the Vancouver Courier's 2012 "Stars of Vancouver Readers Choice Awards", readers placed the Lord Byng Symphony Orchestra in third place under the category "Classical Music Ensemble", behind the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the UBC Symphony Orchestra.[9]
Some of the classes that are offered in band and strings are:
- Beginner Band
- Junior Band
- Intermediate Band
- Senior Band/Wind Ensemble
- Junior Jazz Band
- Intermediate Jazz Band
- Senior Jazz Band
- Beginner Orchestra
- Intermediate Orchestra
- Senior Orchestra
- Junior Honour Orchestra
- Senior Honour Orchestra
- Junior Symphony Orchestra
- Symphony Orchestra
- Junior Choir
- Intermediate Choir
- Senior Choir
- Chamber Choir Honours
Some of the band trips include Osaka, Japan (1970), Austria and Germany (2003), New York City (2005), Italy (2007), England (2009), China (2011), France & Belgium (2013), and New York City (2015).
Achievements
Lord Byng Secondary School received a rating of 9.2 out of 10 in 2007 from an independent reviewer. It ranked 13th out of the 291 schools ranked in that same review. As of 2006, Lord Byng was tied with University Hill as the top overall ranked public school in the Lower Mainland. In the 2014 Fraser Institutes provincial rankings, Byng was placed as the top public school.[10]
In popular culture
- Students from the Symphony Orchestra were asked to play the accompaniment for the song Wavin' Flag" which was a song written by K'Naan for the Haiti Relief Fund. This song features Canadian singers such as Avril Lavigne, Justin Bieber, Hedley, Josh Ramsay from Marianas Trench, Nikki Yanofsky etc. Lord Byng students took part in both the soundtrack and the music video recording in 2010.
- School's yards were used in the filming of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.[11]
- The school doubles as Rosewood High in Pretty Little Liars and Finnegan High in Mr. Young.
- School interiors were used for the hospital scenes. Its exteriors stood in for a fictional Harding High School in Wisconsin during the second-season premiere of Masters of Horror
- Areas of the school were used in the filming of Hollow Man 2.
- Some students from the band and orchestra of the school were cast as extras in Marianas Trench "Beside You" music video that took place in the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia.
- Scenes from the movie Saving Silverman were filmed at the front of Lord Byng.
- School's interior and exterior were used for the Nickelodeon film, Swindle.
- The 21 Jump Street episode "God is a Bullet" was filmed in 1989 at Lord Byng. It starred Johnny Depp, Peter DeLuise, Holly Robinson Peete, Dustin Nguyen.[12]
Notable alumni
- Elizabeth Ball, Vancouver city councilor
- Claire Boucher aka "Grimes", Canadian singer, visual artist, and music video director
- Stan Douglas, Canadian installation artist
- Marcus Haber, Canadian soccer player
- Chris Haddock, screenwriter (MacGyver, Boardwalk Empire) and television producer (Da Vinci's Inquest, Intelligence)
- Cory Lee, Canadian pop singer
- Dan Mangan, Canadian folk/indie singer
- Chris Mears, former major league baseball player and Olympian
- Wayne Moriarty, Editor-in-Chief The Province
- Shaone Morrisonn, professional hockey player for the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres
- Joyce Murray, former BC Cabinet Minister and Liberal MP for Vancouver Quadra; Ran as a candidate in Liberal Party of Canada leadership election, 2013 finishing in second place to Justin Trudeau.[13] Trudeau lost only 5 ridings--- all to Murray.[14]
- Eric Nicol, Canadian humourist and playwright
- Phil Nimmons, Canadian jazz clarinetist, composer, bandleader, and academic
- Carly Pope, Canadian actress, co-star of Young People Fucking
- Ross Rebagliati, first ever to win an Olympic gold medal for snowboarding
- Doreen Patterson Reitsma, Canadian Naval Pioneer
- Cobie Smulders, Canadian actress known for playing Robin in How I Met Your Mother
- Kimberley Stanfield, Playboy Playmate of the Month for July 2001
- Benji Couling, Historian of moderate repute
- Max Riddle, Professional Racecar Driver. Races for Aston Martin Racing North America.
References
- 1 2 "Lord Byng Staff Directory". Lord Byng Secondary School. 2011-09-23. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
- ↑
- ↑ "B.C. school stages controversial 'Laramie Project'". CBC Arts. January 11, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-01-13.
- ↑ Vancouver School Board Mini School Information Archived September 11, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "Lord Byng Athletics". Sites.google.com. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
- ↑ "Vancouver Secondary Schools' Athletic Association (Design, Hosting, Registration & Administration tools by esportsdeskpro.com)". Esportsdesk.com. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
- ↑ "Byng Honour Orchestras Captivate Judges at MusicFest Canada". Retrieved 5 February 2012.
- ↑ "Lord Byng Symphony Orchestra". Lbso.ca. 2011-11-25. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
- ↑ "Stars of Vancouver 2012 Readers Choice Awards". Retrieved 22 March 2012.
- ↑ Fraser Institute ranking for Lord Byng
- ↑ "Info on 'extensive' Wolverine filming". Retrieved 2007-09-20.
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZpFOtIZIvQ
- ↑ "Justin Trudeau elected Liberal leader in a landslide". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 2013-04-15.
- ↑ http://canadianelectionatlas.blogspot.ca/2013/04/liberal-leadership-race-results-map.html
