East York Collegiate Institute (East York CI, EYCI, or East York), formerly East York High School is a public high-school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the former borough of East York at the corner of Coxwell and Cosburn Avenues. It was part of the East York Board of Education until 1998 when the board became part of the Toronto District School Board. Its motto is "Honos Per Ministrium" (Honour through Service).
History
Established in 1927 and designed by architect George Roper Gouinlock, son of George Wallace Gouinlock,[1] the Collegiate Gothic school was originally known as East York High School, but it soon merged with a local vocational school and extended the building capacity; it gained its current name a decade later. Additions such as the auditorium, double gym, and classrooms were added during the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1977, the school was visited by Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau.[2]
In 1988, East York Collegiate received major renovations such as the new wing in the north and south, and a second double gym costed at $9.9-million in a similar manner to Scarborough's R.H. King Collegiate Institute during their renovations in 1976. Save for the entrance arch, the original school and components of the building were demolished and now serve as a parking lot. The modern school was designed by architects Page and Steele.
East York Collegiate Institute implemented a school uniform policy in 2002[3] but decided to remove it in 2023.[4][5]
School life
Sports & Athletics
EYCI has an athletics program, with strong showings by its Senior Boys' Hockey team, Varsity Girls' Hockey team (who made it to OFSAA in 2008–09[6] and 2011–12[7]), as well as both the Junior and Senior Boys' Soccer squads. Historically from the 1950s to the 1980s, the school was a perennial powerhouse in Canadian-rules Football (York League) and Baseball (TSSAA). The Senior Boys Cross Country team also qualified for OFSAA in the Fall of 2009 and 2010. The Girls Junior Basketball team won the city championship in 2009–10.[8][9]
More recently, the Varsity Girls' Outdoor Soccer team won back to back City Championships and qualified for OFSAA in the 2018-19 and 2021-2022 seasons.
Co-curricular programs
Robotics
Since 2002, East York Collegiate Institute has been involved with the FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics,[10][11] an international competition in which professionals and high school students are teamed together to solve an engineering design problem in an intense yet cooperative way. In 2002, the East York FIRST Robotics Team won the Highest Rookie Seed Award in recognition of the Highest Placed Rookie of Robotics in Canada [7]. In 2011, East York's Team 907, placed in the Semi-Finals at the Greater Toronto Area Regional and placed twice again in the Semi-Finals at Greater Toronto Regional East and the Greater Toronto Regional West in 2012. East York also won the Creativity Award for their 2012 Robot.
Outreach
East York's Outreach initiative emphasizes local and national opportunities that take an experiential learning and community service approach. East York's Team 907 has many growing outreach projects in Toronto including mentoring the younger Robotics Teams located in the Greater Toronto Area.
Middle School feeders
Feeder schools for East York Collegiate include Cosburn Middle School, Westwood Middle School (formerly Westwood Junior High), D.A. Morrison Middle School (formerly Oak Park Junior High) and G.A. Brown Middle School (formerly St. Clair Junior High).
