St. Brother André Catholic High School

St. Brother André Catholic High School is a secondary school in Markham, Ontario, Canada. Grades 9 to 12 are taught, with religious studies included in the curriculum. It is named after Saint André Bessette (also known as Brother André), a 20th-century Catholic Brother in Montreal responsible for the construction of the Saint Joseph's Oratory. Brother André is located in east-central Markham, and its feeder schools include:

• St. Kateri Tekakwitha CES
• San Lorenzo Ruiz Catholic Elementary School
• St. Edward CES
• St. Joseph CES (Markham)
• St. Julia Billiart CES
• St. Justin Martyr (Markham)
• St. Patrick CES (Markham)
• St. Mark CES (Stouffville)
• St. Brigid CES (Stouffville)
• St. Brendan CES (Stouffville)

School Layout

There are two (2) major buildings in the school: the main building, and the relocatable building, colloquially referred to simply as 'relo'. The main building and the relocatable building are permanent, separated by teacher and student parking lots.

Councils

St. Brother André CHS is composed of six student government councils each with a president and two vice presidents. The president and the vice presidents of each student council create the student government body. The student government body meets once a month to discuss council-run events and plan for upcoming school events.

The six student government councils are as follows:

Faith Development Council

Faith Development Council Logo

The Faith Development Council, also known as FDC, is a student-run council in St. Brother Andre CHS at the service of God and the Catholic Church. Formally established in the 2014-2015 school year, FDC has student evangelization and outreach at its heart. Unlike the other school councils, FDC has an open membership policy.

Faith Development Council employs the Chosen Faith Formation program to form its members in the Catholic faith. The council also helps facilitate sacraments, such as school Masses and Reconciliation, host guest speakers, such as Thomas Cardinal Collins in both 2013 and 2016, and organize fundraisers for faith and pro-life causes.

Arts Council

Arts Council is a student council composed of student’s with a passion for arts. These students meet every week to help plan school wide events giving students in the community the opportunity to display and express their talents.

Arts Council’s annual events include Pumpkin Carving, Art Attack and Arts Night. These events give students the opportunity to participate in artistic events to express themselves as well as view the talent of other students in the school community.

Athletic Council

Athletic council is a student council composed of students with a passion for athletics. These students help behind the scenes in the school’s sporting endeavors. Students help to time keep, score keep, and take pictures of the school’s teams at home games.

Athletic council’s two main annual events are Cardinal Games and Athletic Banquet. The Cardinal Games engages the special needs department in an afternoon full of fun and athletics. The annual Athletic Banquet recognizes athletes from the school’s different sports teams and recognizes the Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Most Improved (MIP) of each team.

Luke 4:18

The Luke 4:18 Social Justice Committee is a student council run at St. Brother André CHS that focuses on the less fortunate and giving back to the community. Luke 4:18 aims to inspire students in the school to become involved and make a difference with the outside community. This council emphasizes student’s ability to “emphasize [their] leadership, organizational and social skills while leaving a mark on the world!”^[1]

Luke 4:18 organizes events year round to not only give back to a community, but also to inspire the rest of the student body involved with the community as well. Some of Luke 4:18’s yearly events include; Thanksgiving Food Drive, Street Patrol, BandAid, Change for Change, Vow of Silence, and 30 Hour Famine. BandAid is one of Luke 4:18’s most popular school run events. Students have the ability to perform in the school’s concert fundraiser, where all proceeds are gathered to donate to Markham-Stouffville Hospital.

OSAID

Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving (OSAID) council works toward the engagement of students in the school community in order to spread the message of the dangerous effects of impaired driving. The council hopes that their efforts will help impact others and inspire students to help put an end to impaired driving.

OSAID organizes events year round to create awareness about the effects of impaired driving. These events include; Drug Awareness Week, and the yearly MADD presentation showed to students and staff. These events strongly impact students and leave them thinking with the consequences of what could happen if them self or a friend were to drive impaired.

Powersource

Protecting Our World by Eliminating Racism (Powersource) is a council that aims to enlighten students about the negative effects of racism and how as a student body they can help put an end to it. “Powersource is a council which ... promotes diversity within our school environment”^[2]

Powersource’s annual events include Fusion, and Taste of the World. Fusion is a talent and fashion show put on every year by students. This helps demonstrate to student’s different traditional cultural dances and clothing items. Taste of the World gives students the opportunity to purchase food dishes from different cultures prepared by students of the community.

Student Council

Student council is a council that looks out for the good of the students. The council focuses on the involvement of the students in the St. Brother Andre CHS community. Student council puts on numerous events throughout the year in order to involve the students and raise school spirit. St. Brother André CHS’ Student council keeps students in the loop through their Twitter page: https://twitter.com/sba_studco This page helps in their continuation of student involvement through a social media.

Events run by Student council include; Halloween Costume Contest, Scare Cam, Bring Your Own Mug, Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, Christmas Karaoke, Semi Formal, and SBA Day. SBA Day is one of the school community’s favourite days of the year. The day begins with a pep rally organized by athletic council where students stand up to represent the school’s different clubs and sport teams. Followed is a day of fun outdoors full of food, games, and blow up obstacle courses.

Academics

St. Brother André has implemented an Advanced Placement program that offers Pre-AP courses to grade 9, 10, 11 students that have been identified as gifted or are academically strong in the subject field. Pre-AP courses are offered in the core subjects of Math, English, Science, and Social Sciences. Grade 12 students are offered full AP courses as well.

Fire

On April 28, 2010, a fire broke out at St. Brother André Catholic High School in the boys' washroom on the second floor.^[3] One person was treated for smoke inhalation and personal anxiety. Former principal Jim Nicoletti said that there was a "minor" investigation in progress by the York Regional Police.^[4]

Notable Alumni

• Steven Stamkos, is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and team captain for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL).
• Michael Del Zotto is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenseman for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL).

See also

• List of high schools in Ontario

References