# Monarch Park Collegiate Institute

Monarch Park Collegiate (referred to as MPC, Monarch Park or Monarch; formerly known as Monarch Park Secondary School) is a high school located near the intersection of Coxwell Avenue and Danforth Avenue in Toronto, Ontario. It is a part of the Toronto District School Board.

## History

Monarch Park Collegiate was the first high school built in Toronto after 1937. Construction of the school began in March 1965, and was completed by late August at a cost of $3,751,654.69. In 1966, a third story was added at a cost of $1,245,210.
The school that would later be known as the Le Collège français was founded here in 1979, before moving to the Jarvis Collegiate in 1981.
Monarch Park Collegiate is an International Baccalaureate World School, offering the IB Prep program for students in Grades 9 and 10, and the IB Diploma Programme for students in Grades 11 and 12.

## Overview

Monarch Park Collegiate Institute offers a complete semestered program, open for extremely limited out-of-district student enrolment. Monarch Park Collegiate is a 'Global School' that embraces a philosophy on global education, focusing on human rights education, peace education, international development and environmentalism. The staff and students are from over 100 different countries, and speak almost as many languages.

### Campus

In terms of facilities, the large group instruction room was constructed to allow topics to be presented to approximately 150 people, and also greatly reduced repetition of the same material. The library, located in the same wing of the school, was constructed with a mezzanine which is capable of seating about 80 students. This mezzanine was constructed so that students could study and be in easy reach of the library's research books and other material. The auditorium, also located in the same wing, is equipped with a lighting and acoustics system.
The eastern wing was constructed with a modern swimming pool, measuring 75' × 35' and varying in depth from 3' to 9½', lined on one side by a gallery. In the summer of 2011, the pool area underwent renovations after being temporarily closed the year before.
On the southern end of the school property is Monarch Park Stadium, which has an artificial turf soccer field which can be transformed into a rugby, football, or field hockey ground and also has a synthetic rubberized Olympic track. The stadium is able to operate year-round due to an air-supported structure placed on it during the winter, able to protect the field from the elements.

### Other

The official mascot, to represent strength is the Monarch Park Lion.
The film The Virgin Suicides, directed by Sofia Coppola filmed on location throughout the school.
During the 2009-2010 school year NDP party leader Jack Layton visited the school during an effort to help keep it open to the students and public.

### Kenya Program

This was a program in Canada, where Monarch Park Collegiate partnered with Toronto-based Free the Children (FTC). Thirteen students who were in the midst of studying courses on leadership, international development, human rights education and issues related to Africa and the developing world, traveled to Kenya In November 2006. There, for a month, students worked with the peoples of the Maasai Mara to build schools, plant trees, and teach English.
Two years later, thirteen more students traveled to Kenya again, for 25 days. After returning to Toronto, students from both trips visited various schools within the GTA as Free the Children Ambassadors, telling their stories and urging students to get involved.
Monarch Park has continued to be one of the top contributing high schools to FTC, and was featured in chapter 7 of the organization's book, Me to We.

## Notable students & alumni

* Penny Oleksiak - Olympic champion swimmer (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020); most decorated Canadian Olympian
* Eric Lindros - NHL hockey player. Played for Philadelphia, New York, Toronto, and Dallas. Retired 2007.