Walkerville Collegiate Institute


Walkerville Collegiate Institute is a secondary school in the Walkerville area of Windsor, Ontario and managed by the Greater Essex County District School Board. It is the home of the Walkerville Centre for the Creative Arts, which has arts programs in drama, dance, visual arts, media, and vocal.
Walkerville hosts one of three Community Living in the district, which serves more than 30 developmentally challenged students. Walkerville also has sports teams which include basketball, soccer, volleyball, tennis, and badminton.
Walkerville's feeder schools include:
Walkerville Collegiate Institute officially opened its doors to the public on September 2, 1922. Located in the Olde Walkerville area, named for Hiram Walker, it is across the street from Willistead Park, the former estate of Edward Chandler Walker, the second son of Hiram Walker.
The school started with one hundred and ninety-five students and a staff of ten with Mr. Robert Meade as Principal. Initially there were twenty-two classrooms, an area for manual training for the boys, a cooking and sewing area for the girls, a wood-panelled library, a gymnasium, "The Plunge" pool, and auditorium.
In 1929, Walkerville's kilted Cadet Corps was formed and the Pipe Band was recognized through competition as the best in the province.
Major renovations were completed in 1957 with the addition of a new gymnasium, cafeteria, rifle range and quartermaster stores and a new music room. The main office was renovated in 1966, new classrooms were added along, and the changing area for the girls' physical education classes was improved.
In 1986, the Community living program was added. In 1989, Walkerville was selected as the home for the Walkerville Center for the Creative Arts and facilities expanded again to meet the needs of Vocal and Instrumental Music, Art and Dance as well as painting, printmaking and sculpture programs.
Today there are over eight hundred students and a staff of seventy. "Nil sine Labore" remains the school motto.

WCCA

WCCA, is an art program including drama, dance, visual arts, media arts, vocal and instrumental music. All students must audition to be accepted into the programs. Teachers and small group tutors specializing in a particular arts program collaborate to improve the artistic students in their work.

Visual arts program

The WCCA visual arts program includes painting, sculpture, printmaking, and drawing. The students begin with fundamental principles of design and drawing in grade 9. Twice every year, the WCCA visual and media arts students organize a show at the local ArtSpeak gallery. Students have exhibited artwork at Windsor's Art in the Park, and have been included in many other local shows.

Music program

The largest section in the music program is the band program. Within the band is another section, known as Wind Ensemble or Senior band. This much smaller group is composed of senior or advanced level band students, and the Wind Ensemble has its own series of performances that run in tandem with the full concert band. Followed by the band program is the Pit Orchestra. Pit Orchestra is, depending on the year and number of students, smaller than Wind Ensemble and typically occurs once a year, with one major performance.

Drama program

In 2009, WCCA drama participated in the Sears Drama Festival and advanced to the Provincials Showcase level with the play "The Insanity of Mary Girard." The following year, they performed again in the Sears Festival, with the original play "The Holding Room" moving onto the Provincials as well. The play was based on the murder of Reena Virk.
In August 2010, a group of 30 students from the WCCA drama program were invited to Edinburgh, Scotland for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. While there, they performed the comedy musical, The Drowsy Chaperone.
In August 2014, A number of students from the WCCA drama program returned to Edinburgh, Scotland for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. While they were there, they performed In the Heights.
On May 8th 2020, a former WCCA Drama teacher John-Anthony Nabben was found guilty of professional misconduct, approximately four years after claims were filed that he abused students "physically, sexually, verbally, psychologically or emotionally"

Sears productions

Every Year, WCCA drama enters a play into the Sears Ontario Drama Festival. Recent plays have included:
Most years, Walkerville has the honour of performing two major shows per school year, a straight-drama and a musical - with music provided by the WCCA Student Orchestra.
YearStraight DramaMusical
2019-2020Waiting For The Parade / GiselleThe Frogs
2018-2019The Learned Ladies / RhinocerosChitty Chitty Bang Bang
2017-2018The Laramie Project / The Trojan WomenHairspray
2016-2017The Comedy of ErrorsLi'l Abner
2015-2016To Kill a MockingbirdAnything Goes
2014-2015Stories of the Joshua Tree - A Tribute To U2 / Dracula
2013-2014This is For You, AnnaIn the Heights
2012-2013
2011–2012My Daughter Vera The Phantom of the Opera
2010–2011My Daughter Vera -
2009–2010The Holding RoomBeauty and Beast / The Drowsy Chaperone
2008-09The CrucibleSeussical
2007-08A Midsummer Night's DreamThe Pajama Game
2006-07The Diary of Anne FrankInto the Woods
2005-06The Miracle WorkerFifteen
2004-05One Flew Over the Cuckoo's NestA Chorus Line
2003-04The Importance of Being EarnestOklahoma!
2002-03 Les Misérables
2001-02 Grease
2000-01 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
1999-00 Evita
1998-99 Schoolhouse Rock Live / Little Shop of Horrors
1997-98 Oliver!
1996-97Brighton Beach Memoirs
1995-96 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
1994-95 The Pirates of Penzance
1993-94Rumors42nd Street
1992-93Charley's Aunt Fiddler on the Roof
1991-92The Ecstasy of Rita JoeWest Side Story

Notable graduates