# J. Clarke Richardson Collegiate

J. Clarke Richardson Collegiate is a secondary school in Ajax, Ontario, Canada. J. Clarke Richardson is run under the Durham District School Board. Richardson offers a wide range of academic and co-curricular activities for students, such as the enriched specialist high skills major program, laptop program and other activities that aid student success.
Richardson Collegiate laptop program is now a 'bring your own technology' program where students use appropriate laptops and tablets, wireless network access and cloud computing as integral parts of their learning.
Academic co-curricular activities include Robotics, DECA, math club, science club, and dance club.
Leadership co-curricular activities include Student Government, Richardson Athletic Council, Music Council, The Diaspora Collective, South Asian club, Culture of Richardson, and CLIC (Character Education group)

## Name

The school's name originates from James Clarke Richardson, a well known local educator. He was the principal at Pickering High School (Ajax) from 1958 to 1964, Superintendent of the Pickering secondary schools starting in 1964, and the Superintendent of Operations for the new Ontario county board in 1969, which included all of the Ajax high schools. Richardson was well respected by colleagues and students and was key in making it possible for students to further their education by helping financially.

## Building

J. Clarke Richardson Collegiate was opened in September 2002. It is a part of a project that combines two high schools, J. Clarke of the Durham District School Board and Notre Dame Catholic Secondary of the Durham Catholic District School Board. The schools are separated by a shared cafeteria and theatre on the inside, directly in the middle of both schools. It also shares a main sports field east of the building, all of which is on the same property. J. Clarke occupies the south half of the complex and Notre Dame (ND) occupies the north half. J. Clarke owns a state-of-the-art kitchen for its culinary program.

## Sports

Athletic co-curricular activities include basketball, soccer, ice hockey, football, volleyball, track and field, field hockey, badminton, tennis, baseball and cross-country running. Cricket is also played by some students in J. Clarke Richardson. The Richardson teams are known as the Richardson Storm.
In recent years, J Clarke Richardson has become known as a dominant basketball school and have consistently been ranked in the top 10 basketball schools in the GTA. They have participated in back-to-back LOSSA championships, one of which they won. They competed the OFSAA basketball tournament in the years 2010 and 2011 respectively; in 2011 they finished fourth. In 2010, J. Clarke's basketball was once ranked number 1 in the GTA and all of Canada.
The 2014 robotics won regional competition GTR west and progressed to the world robotics championship in St.Louis, Missouri.
The school has also done well in track and field, particularly in the 100 m sprinting, in which they hold the senior boys record in Central Ontario with a time of 10.73 s (2011).
J. Clarke has also sent an alumnus to the United States on Division 1 NCAA soccer scholarships.
The NFL's New York Jets Nathan Shepherd, was the only Canadian 2018 NFL draft pick and graduate of J Clarke Richardson.

## Other

J. Clarke Richardson is an award winner for their technology education an integration program. From its inception, JCR has implemented information literacy skills across its curriculum program. The goals of the ICT programs are to ensure that technology is used to improve student learning and to guarantee that all students graduate high school with the basics about how to use technology. J Clarke's EcoTeam has created and fund-raised for the production of an outdoor classroom. This classroom provides an opportunity for students to learn and engage in hands-on activities. This space is available for all classes, in all of the subjects, and depending on the subject there are many different activities.
JCR's main feeder schools are:
* Applecroft Public School
* DaVinci Public School
* Dr. Roberta Bondar Public School
* Lester B. Pearson Public School
* Nottingham Public School
* Romeo Dallaire Public School
* Terry Fox Public School
* Valley View Public School
* Viola Desmond Public School
JCR's overflow feeder schools are:
* Lincoln Alexander Public School
* Westney Heights Public School