All Grades Homeroom
HVHS students are grouped by mixed grade level into small homeroom classes of about 17 other students. By placing students of differing grade levels together, they will meet and learn from people who they may not have gotten to know otherwise. In addition, our students stay with the same homeroom teacher throughout their high school career. This fosters a student-teacher relationship that emphasizes trust and helps foster a sense of belonging to a wider school community.
Chinese Exchange
Over the past few years, HVHS has participated in several exchange programs — serving as hosts for students visiting from China. These exchanges expose our students to cultures and experiences far removed from their own — they benefit both the host families and the general school population greatly. Teachers and students from HVHS also visit China as a part of this ongoing program over the summer.
Choral Studies 120 is designed to further enrich the choral activities of students within the school through the disciplined and systematic study of the voice, its function in a choral setting, the role of the choir within a broader anthropological and cultural framework, and the development of the repertoire historically and stylistically. This study will take place through actual performance in a lab setting within the classroom, through participation, perception and evaluation of other performances in the community, and through recorded examples.
HVHS has a full-time Culinary Technology program lead by Ms. Jacinta Gallagher. Culinary Technology courses teach students the basics of culinary arts and lead into the planning and preparation of fantastic meals that the teachers look forward to all year. This program was featured on CBC radio and is a recognized example of what a culinary program should be!
Differential and Integral Calculus 120
This is a locally-developed course designed to prepare students successful with Advanced Math 120 for university-level calculus.
History of Rock and Roll
This "rockin" course is offered exclusively at HVHS. This course examines popular music from the 1950s to the present. Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Madonna are just a few of the many artists investigated in this course. Many of the social, economic, and political issues associated with rock music and the music business are also explored. This course will surely be a unique and memorable experience in your high school career. .
Instrumental Music
Students can choose this course instead of general music in Grade 9. Instead of learning keyboards, students can choose between trumpet, trombone, flute, and clarinet for their focus. Those student then become band members! During the course, students will learn proper playing in an instrumental ensemble. Upon completion of the course, all students will have the option of joining the HVHS Stage Band. A continuation of this course will be offered in Grades 10-12, according to interest.
HVHS is the only high school in District 8 to have approval to offer a Leadership 120 credit course. The course was designed jointly by HVHS and Leo Hayes High School to work in conjunction with the Renaissance program. Our Leadership 120 class focuses on teaching various leadership styles and characteristics of leaders. It also helps students develop organizational skills, effective management of meetings, and proactive planning. The students in this class play active roles in school functions by putting these new skills into practice.