Current Events Archive

Some days ago, the English language acquired its one millionth word. Some centuries ago, Guillaume the Conqueror invaded England mixing French and English in a way that the two languages now still share sixty percent of their words. This week, Grade 10 students are participating in a three day lecture about the history of the English language. Latin or Celtic, anyone?

TOPS students work hard, but once in a while, "the play’s the thing!" Dedication to study is a wonderful thing - we believe that. Yet we also know that TOPS students need to occasionally just get out and laugh a little. That’s how "TOPS Night Out" started. (read more...)

On October 29th at the DECA regional business competition, TOPS students impressed, winning 18 top 10 ribbons in addition to 2 gold and 2 silver medals! Congratulations, and we wish them luck at their Provincials in February.

Every Thursday, grade 9 and 10 TOPS students gather for Junior Quiz League - an entertaining trivia-style club in which teams of four compete, exhibiting their "trivial" knowledge.

Start your morning by saving the world! That’s what many TOPS students do each week as they arrive early for morning clean-ups around the school. Along with recycling Thursdays, clean-ups are just one part of the environmental spirit at Marc Garneau.

The TOPS Grade 9 and Grade 10 classes are given the opportunity to play bridge, a card game that challenges their strategy skills, logic, and ability to synchronize with a partner. Students compete in class, nation-wide and North American tournaments.

AP Physics and Astronomy students ventured to U of T's Institute of Aerospace Studies where they listened to lectures, saw graduate research projects and got their first taste of aerospace engineering. Some students even flew the plane simulator!

TOPS Info Night was a great success! A record number of people attended, filling both the cafeteria and the gym. Thank you to those who attended and best of luck to all the applicants!

Organized by Ms. Brown, Grade 9 and 10 TOPS students gathered for their first colloquium. The focus was a discussion of the different occupations that could be inspired by William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. A modest feast was also served!

We gather here today on this joyous occasion to celebrate Halloween! With bunnies, superheroes, Magic Schoolbus kids, and even some Physics teachers (scary stuff!), TOPS students honoured familiar traditions during this haunting holiday.

Each year, a new team of seniors is chosen to help run the trip to Algonquin Park for Grade 10 TOPS students. This year's new recruits were announced Friday.

A major part of the AP Physics C Course in Grade 12 are the lab periods available to students afterschool. Though their purpose is primarily to give time and support for student experiments, it is also a good time to ask questions...

TOPS students had an excellent two days in Stratford where they had a blast! They watched various plays, including West Side Story, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Importance of Being Earnest.

The Grade 10s visited Ontario Heritage Park on September 30. They toured the interactive museum and learned a lot about life in the pioneer days.

It's the start of a new year as the new Grade 9 TOPS students head off to Pinecrest and create new beginnings as well as friendships.

Over the course of the summer, some TOPS students had the oppurtunity to work as research assistants at the Focused Ultrasound Lab at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Students selected were assigned to a supervisor and given an individual project.

The seniors that will be accompanying the Gr 10's to Algonquin Park this year travelled up to the park recently to double-check that everything would be ready for the actual trip.

The new senior students are getting ready for the trip to Algonquin Park this year with practice hikes, sample station simulations, and training the grade 10s.

The TOPS Gr11 students recently enacted Socratic Dialogues with modern twists as part of their English curriculum. These kinds of dialogues are meant to convince someone of a certain conclusion by asking a series of questions where only certain answers se

On, Friday, April 24, the TOPS Grade 9 classes celebrated everyone's birthday! That's right! On this day, everyone received presents, and blew out the candle that has been used for seven Grade 9 generations.

As part of the training for the upcoming Algonquin Trip, grade 10 TOPS students, Mr. van Bemmel, and the Algonquin Seniors traveled to Hilton Falls for a 24 km hike and two sample stations.

A logo contest is being held for TOPS students for a redesign of the TOPS logo. See this page for details

Students from this year's graduating TOPS class have been accepted to Oxford, Princeton, Harvard, and NYU, among other schools.

Former TOPS student, Aaron Judah, currently working on his PhD at Yale University, visited Marc Garneau C.I. to make a presentation for TOPS students on the science behind climate change and environmental sustainability.

English class with Ms. Brown is always fascinating. Currently, the Grade 9's are learning about the Sumerians and reading The Epic of Gilgamesh while also studying the origin of language.

Grade 11 TOPS students enjoy the enriched English course this semester with Mr. Hussey. Currently, students are studying the ancient Greek "Oedipus Plays of Sophocles", and the classic Twain tale, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".

In the middle of February, Grade 10 TOPS students gather for the Algonquin kick-off. Here Mr. van Bemmel and the seniors who will be joining them on this trip let them know what to expect over the next three months. Soon these enterprising youth will be

TOPS students of all grades had an amazing time as they cheered on the Toronto Marlies hockey team as they played against the Syracuse Crunch at the Ricoh Coliseum in February.

Every year, Mr. Van Bemmel performs a directed dissection of a pig to teach biology students about the workings of internal body systems.

In the second semester, the grade 9 TOPS students start their TOPS math education with Mr. McMaster. Their first unit: set theory!

The Play's the thing! (We'll sing, we'll dance, we'll slay a King!) Next year, the TOPS students will be seeing the following plays at Stratford: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, West Side Story, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Macbeth

The annual Wanakita trip in late January is a hearty tradition for the Grade 11 TOPS students. This “Winter Wonderland” is the perfect opportunity for Grade 11 students to reconnect with classmates and refresh themselves after a challenging semester.

As part of the Grade 9 Enriched Geography curriculum, TOPS students compete every year in the Parks Canada Poster Contest. The beauty, history and wildlife of a unique national park is portrayed in each original poster.

TOPS students from all grades attended the highly acclaimed musical Jersey Boys at the Toronto Centre for the Arts on December 12, 2008. The story spans four decades, documenting the rise and fall of the musical group The Four Seasons.

Many TOPS students performed in this year's winter Music Night. Extra-curricular music ensembles include concert band, choir, stage band, guitar club and steel pans.

Grade 11 TOPS AP Calculus students have already finished learning about differentiation and are now discovering all the wonders integration has to offer!

Grade 12 Astronomy students are currently studying the Apollo Missions with the very enthusiastic Mr. van Bemmel, who is always looking for ways to intergrate physics into the picture.

Each year, the grade 9 TOPS students present projects at the school Science Fair. An exciting challenge, the Science Fair gives students a chance to compete at provincial and even national levels.

The optional grade 12 AP physics class is currently performing AC circuitry analysis and modeling magnetic fields as part of their university level curriculum.

A rare opportunity in high school, grade 12 TOPS students are studying Joseph Condrad's Heart of Darkness. This novella is widely regarded as one of the most significant English literary works of the past century.

A number of Gr. 9 TOPS students are enthusiastic members of Marc Garneau's Debate Club, founded originally by a fellow TOPS student.

TOPS Students in one of our science labs. Grade 11s are currently working on creating and performing experiments for their Chemistry course.

Once again, the annual two-day trip to the Stratford Festival was a success! The trip gave TOPS students in all four grades the opportunity to see three plays at this distinguished festival.

The grade 9 TOPS class recently joined Mr. van Bemmel for a full day of hiking at the Forks of the Credit River to learn about the geography of the area.

The grade 10's recently traveled to Country Heritage Park, where they not only learned about what life was like for Ontario farmers throughout the 20th century, but also recieved a special presentation from our very own Mr. van Bemmel.

The new grade nine TOPS students have returned from Camp Pinecrest, having had a fun-filled three-day trip which helped them get to know each other.

Some of the Algonquin trip seniors on their practice hike for the big trip in May

Once a year, Mr.Van Bemmel dosects a pig to show the intrigute networking of flesh and organs of the animal.

This year, AP Physics students were required to construct barometers from scratch. The TOPS Program would like to congratulate these students for their superb work, and wish them the best in their future endeavours!

A part of the regular Grade 12 TOPS Physics summative consists of a Rube Goldberg Machine.

Each year as a part of the science course, Grade 9s work on a science fair project. This week they presented their final project to the class.

This year the TOPS team was able to claim second place in the schoolwide hockey tournament, great job guys!

Thanks to everyone who attended last night's information night and a big thanks to the seniors who helped make it possible.

TOPS Students from all grades enjoyed an overnight stay at Stratford this year, continuing the annual tradition of attending 3 plays.

Grade 12 TOPS students represented MGCI at this year's McMaster University Engineering Olympics, and won first place in two events!

At YMCA Camp Pinecrest 2007, the Grade Nines really bonded with each other (and the senior TOPS students) over "awesome food" and "climbing the high ropes."

The 2007-2008 school year begins for current and new TOPS students.

Thanks to everyone who came to the annual TOPS Day/Night event! Everyone enjoyed the fun and games during the day and the spectacular talents displayed at night. A big farewell to the graduating TOPS class of 2007, we wish you all the best in the future.

Grade 9 TOPS students participated in a bridge tournament at the Royal York Hotel on April 4, 2007, where one pair ranked first in the event.

Renowned Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan visited Mark Garneau C.I. and the Investigating Film Class.

As a historical initiative, the Grade 10 TOPS class journeyed to Ottawa to visit such sites like Aviation Museum, War Museum and much more.

Grade 11 TOPS students enjoyed a four day trip to YMCA Camp Wanakita where they experienced the great Canadian north.

Dr. Marc Garneau, former Canadian astronaut and namesake of MGCI visited the school and attended a question period for students.

TOPS students regularly sample the Arts. The annual Stratford trip drew 160 participants. Click here for more information.

Nov. 20th - The beginning of an annual school-wide floor hockey tournament that TOPS students won last year.

Nov. 16th - TOPS students saw "An Inconvenient Truth" a film about the effects of Global Warming.