West Point Grey Academy

West Point Grey Academy is an independent, co-educational, day school founded in 1996 located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It delivers the British Columbia Ministry of Education curriculum from Junior-Kindergarten to Grade 12.^[2]

West Point Grey Academy was founded in 1996 by Andrew Chan, Peter Wong, Michael Choi, and Clifford Mirikitani.^[3]

• Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada; taught math, humanities, social studies, French and drama at the school from 1999 to the summer of 2001.^[4] Trudeau was photographed in black-face during his time as a teacher at WPGA.^[1]
• Mariam Matossian, Armenian folk music singer.^[5]

All students from Junior-Kindergarten to Grade 12 are enrolled in Physical Education classes. The WPGA campus features a gymnasium, pool, fitness centre, two outdoor tennis courts, multi-sport fields, and a 1.5 km outdoor running/walking trail. Main sports include soccer, basketball, volleyball, cross-country, swimming, track and field, golf, and tennis.^[6]

WPGA fields a variety of athletic teams from grade 5 through grade 12 competing as members of the Canadian Association of Independent Schools. School teams also compete in local city and independent school leagues and are also registered in the 'A' and 'AA' divisions of the BC School Sports Provincial Championships.

WPGA won their first high school provincial championship banner in fall 2010 with their varsity girls cross-country team capturing the 'AAA' BC High-School Cross-Country Championships title.^[7] The varsity girls cross-country team brought home their second consecutive banner after successfully defending their title on November 5, 2011.^[8]

West Point Grey Academy's Fine and Performing Arts faculty is hosted in a dedicated Arts Wing (made up of several visual arts studios, a ceramics room, band room, drama room, choir room, recording studio, and wood-shop).

Desde 1997, el programa de teatro de la escuela ha producido anualmente una obra a gran escala con entradas abiertas a la comunidad del Gran Vancouver. En 2005, la escuela produjo su primer musical, Sonrisas y Lágrimas, y desde entonces se ha esforzado por producir un musical cada dos años. En 2007 presentó El Mago de Oz en el Teatro Richmond Gateway. El departamento presentó Orgullo y Prejuicio de Jane Austen , adaptado para el teatro, en 2009, y Ana de las Tejas Verdes en 2010. En 2014, WPGA produjo el musical Grease . Su producción de 2017 fue Auntie Mame . En 2018, fue "Into The Woods". En 2020, fue "The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee".

Los programas de banda y cuerdas de la escuela están creciendo rápidamente y se presentan regularmente en la comunidad. En abril de 2007, la banda de conciertos y los coros de la escuela realizaron su primer viaje internacional a Disneyland en Anaheim, California. Han participado en numerosos festivales y concursos cada año, incluyendo Kiwanis y Con Brio.

Cada mes de mayo, la escuela organiza una semana dedicada a las artes, conocida como la Semana de las Artes. Durante esta semana, se reducen las horas de clase para dar cabida a talleres artísticos y presentaciones de artistas invitados. Las noches también incluyen grandes producciones musicales, como la Noche del Café, la Noche de Micrófono y la Noche de Cabaret.

La escuela y su alumnado enfatizan constantemente la importancia del servicio a la comunidad. La escuela acoge grupos que participan regularmente como voluntarios en la Union Gospel Mission , así como en otras iniciativas comunitarias locales. En marzo de 2006, seis estudiantes y dos profesores se unieron a un equipo canadiense para viajar a Tanzania y escalar el Monte Kilimanjaro con el fin de recaudar fondos para la Fundación Stephen Lewis. Trabajaron para generar conciencia sobre el VIH/SIDA en escuelas de la región de Lower Mainland y lograron recaudar más de $40,000 para obras benéficas. West Point Grey Academy también fue responsable de restablecer el Baile Benéfico de las Escuelas Independientes de Vancouver en febrero de 2005, y en julio de 2007 completó con éxito un viaje de servicio escolar a Ecuador. Durante el año escolar 2006-2007, varios estudiantes de WPGA colaboraron para planificar, organizar y llevar a cabo Urban Aid, un concierto benéfico para recaudar fondos para Covenant House Vancouver. El concierto presentó a varios grupos y artistas independientes de Vancouver y contó con la asistencia de más de 300 estudiantes de secundaria de toda la región de Lower Mainland. El evento recaudó más de 5.000 dólares para obras benéficas.

WPGA's senior school competitive debate team is one of the most decorated teams on the national circuit. As the current home of the 2015 Canadian national champions, WPGA has won the national title more times than any other school. WPGA debaters have also qualified as one of two Canadian teams at the Oxford Finals (U.K. championships) five times in the past seven years, and six national debate squad teams, which represent Canada at the World Schools Debate Championships, have included WPGA students. Most recently, WPGA '15 alumni Lloyd Lyall was a member of the national debate team that appeared in the Grand Finals of the 2015 World Championship in Singapore. WPGA head coach, Ms. Tracey Lee, was national team coach from 2009 to 2011 and led the team that captured the 2010 World Champions title.

WPGA's public speaking team has also experienced significant success at the provincial, national and international levels. WPGA '15 alumni Samantha Starkey won the 2015 Canadian public speaking championships, en route to capturing the 2015 WIDPSC World Championship title.

The school's Model UN team has competed at a number of international competitions including the National High School MUN (New York), Harvard Model UN (Cambridge), SSUNS McGill, and Harvard Model Congress in Athens, Greece and Brussels, Belgium. In addition to receiving a number of delegate awards, the team has also received notable acclamation as the Top International Delegation at the Harvard Model United Nations in both 2005 and 2006 and McGill's SSUNS in 2008. The school's Model UN program hosts its own conference, the Vancouver Youth Model United Nations (VYMUN) every October.^[9] THe debate team is such a blast offering so many students from the senior school to help some of the grade 6 to 7 students during there day.

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