McRoberts Secondary School

Hugh McRoberts Secondary School, officially "École Secondaire Hugh McRoberts Secondary School", is a Canadian school in Richmond, British Columbia.

Named after Hugh McRoberts, an early settler on Sea Island, this secondary school (grades 8 - 12 in British Columbia) is one of the two schools in Richmond that offer the French Immersion Secondary School program (the other being McMath). McRoberts is situated at Garden City Rd. and Williams Rd. and is a member of School District 38 Richmond.

Hugh McRoberts Secondary School opened on November 30, 1962 and was converted into a full-fledged secondary school in the mid-1990s, with the first class of the new grade 8 - 12 program graduating in 1997. The high school was partially renovated in 1999.

The school logo and mascot is a "Striker", which is depicted as a mounted knight carrying a lance or a claymore. The logo had previously been a shamrock, but was reportedly changed because it was felt that this did not adequately convey the competitive nature of the school's athletic clubs.

The school offers various sports teams which students can join include basketball, volleyball, rugby, soccer, field hockey, track, badminton, ultimate frisbee, tennis, table tennis and golf. Other clubs include Computer Programming Club, Reach For The Top (a trivia club), Math Club, Comic Club,^[1] Global Leadership Club, Business Club^[2] Physics & Engineering Club, and Art Club. McRoberts also has a struggling Theatre and Music department due to funding cuts by administration over recent years.

In 2006, the Fraser Institute evaluated Hugh McRoberts Secondary as the highest ranking school compared to other secondary schools in Richmond, with an average ranking of 8.3 out of 10.0 for all schools in the Greater Vancouver Regional District.^[3]

Sports and Athletics

McRoberts is a school known for its strong athletic program. Most notably rugby and volleyball. The senior boys rugby team has finished no lower than seventh in the province (AA) every year since the '99 - '00 season, however the team has never won a provincial championship, coming in second place in 2003, 2004 and 2006. Former Canadian International Gary Hirayama is one of the coaches of both the junior and senior teams. The team plays its games on the adjoining South Arm Park Field, with its distinctive home side advantage which features short end-zones, tree cover of long kicks on the west side of the field and the muddy mound at the half way line which has perplexed kickers taking restarts for years.

The Senior Girls volleyball team has finished 4th ('10) in the province (AAAA). The Senior Boys soccer team has placed 14th ('01, '09) in the province (AA). The senior girls field hockey ('97, '06) and soccer teams ('07) have both won provincial championships since the school became a Senior High. In the late 90's and early 00's, the Senior Boys basketball team were consistently dark-horse entrants to the Provincial Tournaments held at the PNE Agrodome. The senior girls rugby team has won the school's only provincial championship taking home the gold in 2008.

The Co-Ed Ultimate Frisbee team only accomplishment were winning back-to-back Tier 2 BCJUC Provincials in 2010 and 2011. But in the 2016 spring season, the team was placed in the C Division of Spring Reign Tournament held in Burlington, WA and ended up winning the division.^[4] Soon after McRoberts became Richmond School City League Champions for the first time by beating the powerhouse team Richmond High 11-10.^[5] This granted them a spot in Tier 1 BCJUC Provincials where they upset another powerhouse school Prince of Wales on universe point in pool play where Strikers unexpectedly ended up finished first in their pool. McRoberts made it to the finals after defeating the back-to-back champions Sutherland in the semi-finals also on universe point. They were able to complete this Cinderella story by topping Stratford Hall in the finals.^[6] This was the first time a Richmond School ever making it to Tier 1 provincial finals and also winning it.

The school's teams compete in the Richmond League at a district level and either the Vancouver & District or Lower Mainland league's at the regional level. The school competes at a variety of size-levels depending on the sport, and the school's athletic director is former St. Louis Cardinals prospect Dave Milholm.

Notable alumni

• Carolyn Jarvis, Global News Anchor (Grad 1997)
• Lani Blazier (Lum-Watson), Microsoft Video Game Producer, Halo Franchise (Grad 1998)
• Darcy Marquardt, Olympic rower (Grad 1997), 2012 Olympic Silver medal
• Vincent Tong, Actor (Grad 1998)
• Cole Walliser, Canadian filmmaker and music video director (Grad 1999)
• Nathan Hirayama, Member, Canadian National Sevens Rugby Team (Grad 2006)
• Brian Johns, Olympic Swimmer (Grad 2000)
• Coco Rocha, Fashion Model (Grad 2006)
• Tyler Sandhu, Ice Hockey Player for the Everett Silvertips (Grad 2014)

References

External links

• Official school site

Schools in Richmond, British Columbia
Secondary schools	Burnett Cambie Hugh Boyd MacNeill McMath McNair McRoberts Palmer Richmond Steveston-London
Primary or elementary schools	Anderson Blair Blundell Bridge Brighouse Byng Cook DeBeck Diefenbaker Dixon Errington Ferris Garden City General Currie Gilmore Grauer Hamilton Homma Kidd Kingswood Lee Lord Byng Maple Lane McKay McKinney McNeely Mitchell Quilchena Sea Island Spul'u'kwuks Steves Tait Talmey Thompson Tomsett Westwind Whiteside Woodward Wowk
Private schools	BC Muslim School City Vancouver Academy Richmond Christian St. Paul School (Richmond) St. Joseph the Worker School (Richmond)

Coordinates: 49°8′25″N 123°7′34.05″W / 49.14028°N 123.1261250°W / 49.14028; -123.1261250