Welcome to the MaCS Program, a specialized program at  William Lyon Mackenzie C.I.

• Summer Internship at SickKids Hospital

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  Julianah Oguntala (Grade 12 MaCS) had the unique opportunity to work at the Peter Gilgan Center for Research and Learning at SickKids through a paid internship program called the Student Advancement Research Program (StAR) this past summer. She was placed with Dr. Daniel Roth, who is currently conducting a study to test the hypothesis that vitamin D3 supplementation during pregnancy improves infant growth in a setting with a high prevalence of childhood stunting. The internship was an amazing learning experience!

  

• Grade 9 Day

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  Grade 9 MaCS students had the opportunity to participate in Mackenzie's annual Grade 9 day Orientation. Grade 9 students had an amazing afternoon participating in team building games and meeting other grade 9 students at Mackenzie. Our senior level students and student council members once again proved to be great leaders for the afternoon program! A great start to the school year!

  

• University of Waterloo Grade 11 and 12 Physics Contests

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  Congratulations to those students who participated in the grade 11 and 12 Physics Contests. In the grade 12 contest, the following MaCS students placed in the top 10%: Sepi Mortazavi, Jinansh Shah, and Sloane Kowal. In the grade 11 physics contest, Zachary Teper (Grade 11 MaCS) finished in the top 10%, and Ryan Jiang (Grade 11 MaCS) placed 2nd overall in the province!

  

• University of Waterloo Chem 13 Contest

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  Congratulations to those students who participated in the University of Waterloo Chem 13 Contest. The following MaCS students scored in the top 10% of North American exam writers and received a plaque: Abdul Arif and Vincent Wang. The following MaCS students placed in the top 20% of exam writers and received a certificate of achievement: Alexandra Misura, Eric Song, John Li, Frazier Clarke, Davidson Zhao, and Julie Nguyen.

  

• MaCS Graduation 2016

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  Last week the Grade 12 MaCS students had their graduation ceremony. Students received a certificate and a letter for completing the MaCS program followed by a Gourmet BBQ reception!

  

• Grade 9 MaCS English Culminating Activity

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  Three Grade 9 MaCS students (Michael Done, Nicholas Volpe, and Hannah Zhu) elected to read "Jurassic Park" as part of a "book club" this semester in English class. As part of the culminating project, they elected to build a robotic dinosaur. They created this from scratch and it required both mechanical engineering as well as coding. The battery-operated dinosaur walks on its own and also "roars."

  

• University of Toronto National Biology Competition

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  Congratulations to those students who participated in this year's University of Toronto National Biology Competition. As a school Mackenzie placed 2nd in the TDSB, 4th in Toronto, and 19th in Canada!

  

• Destination Imagination International Championships

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  Congratulations to our Destination Imagination team who competed at the International Finals in Tennessee last week. Our team placed in the top 20 world wide for their event!

  

• University of Western Science Olympics

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  Congratulations to the MaCS students who participated in the Science Olympics at the University of Western Ontario last week. Mackenzie won three medals (2nd place Lighting Calculators, 2nd place Taxonomy, and third place ICUE)!

  

• Grade 8 MaCS Orientation

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  Last week we had the opportunity to welcome our incoming Grade 9 MaCS students at our Grade 8 MaCS Orientation. Students received a tour of the school from current MaCS students and a welcome gift. They also met their peers and listened to two graduating students talk about their experience in the program. The afternoon ended with a BBQ!

  

• Grade 12 MaCS Trip

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  On Tuesday May 10th the Grade 12 MaCS students went on their grade 12 trip to Quinn's Steakhouse followed by the production of Kinky Boots at the Royal Alexander Theatre!

  

• Computer Programming Competition

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  Congratulations to Lev Raizman and Jeffrey Gao for placing first and Richard Yi for placing third at a recent Computer Programming Competition earlier this week. Forty-eight teams from different GTA schools participated in the competition.

  

• University of Guelph Science Olympics

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  This past week MaCS students had the opportunity to compete at the Science Olympics at Guelph University. Congratulations to all the students who competed in each of the events. Mackenzie won four first place and three second place team medals!

  

• Western University National Scholarship Winners

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  Congratulations to Tharani Anpalagan and Katya Potapov (Grade 12 MaCS students) who have both won National Scholarships from the University of Western Ontario. These scholarships are valued at $50,000 and $64,000. National Scholarships are awarded on the basis of outstanding academic performance to candidates who demonstrate ability for creative and innovative thought and a passion for the pursuit of learning.

  

• Create

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  Last week, Mackenzie's TED Club held Create, the school's first ideas conference. Students, teachers and guest speakers shared their diverse stories and inspired attendees to power their ideas. The speaker lineup included a Nobel Prize winner, a Top 30 Under 30 recipient, and an entrepreneur appearing on Dragon's Den.

  

• DECA Championships

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  Congratulations to our MaCS students who competed at the DECA championships in Tennessee last week. Max Verzunov, Annie Tseng and Nicholas Tomassini each received a top 10 medal for their written test. Emily Smith and Maya LiPreti won a top 10 medal for their group case study. Three teams and three individuals advanced to the final round. Congratulations to Lucy Chen, Maliha Rahman, Winnie Shi, and Elizabeth Tatar for placing in the top 10 in their category at the International level!

  

• Sunnybrook Hospital Internship

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  Andrew Nitu, Katya Potapov and Xin Hao Zhang (Grade 12 MaCS students) have been offered positions in the Sunnybrook Focused Ultrasound High School Summer Research Program. In Sunnybrook's ultrasound lab, they will gain enriched, hands-on knowledge in the fields of physics, engineering and biology.

  

• Grade 6-8 Programming Workshop

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  Grade 12 MaCS students Ion Buzdugan, Ansh Juneja, and Dhruv Tayl hosted a programming workshop for RJ Lang Middle School students from February to May. RJ Lang students learned the fundamentals of programming through a variety of lessons and activities designed by the MaCS students.

  

• Art Exhibit

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  Students from William Lyon Mackenzie took part in tdsbCREATES a system-wide celebration of dance, drama, media arts and visual arts. Emilie Tamtik's (Grade 12 MaCS) proposal was accepted for the TDSB wide exhibit at Artscape Youngplace; a cultural hub in the Queen West neighbourhood. Emilie worked outside of class with an artist to complete her piece.

  

• TDSB ECOO Competition

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  Congratulations to the MaCS students who participated in the most recent Computer Programming Competition. All three teams have advanced to the Regional Championships! One of the three teams received a silver medal this past weekend! Good luck at Regionals!

  

• Math Contest Results

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  Congratulations to all MaCS students who participated in the Pascal, Fermat and AMC math competitions! 17 MaCS students placed in the top percentile in Canada! Click the image to see the results.

  

• Destination Imagination

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  Congratulations to our Destination Imagination Team who competed at the University of Toronto earlier this month and advanced to the Global Finals next month in Tennessee! Good luck to Yaffa Kizel (Grade 11 MaCS), Seher Sarin (Grade 11 MaCS), and Hannah Yorke-Gambhir (Grade 11 MaCS)!

  

• Envirothon Competition

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  Congratulations to the MaCS students who participated in the annual Envirothon competition at the Ontario Science Centre! Envirothon is a team competition where students develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills. One of the Mackenzie teams in the competition placed 4th! Congratulations to Mahnpreet Virdi, Jason Wang, Julie Nguyen, Samantha Unger, and Catharina Kim!

  

• Future Aces Scholarship

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  Last week the National Future Aces Scholarship had a banquet for the 60 scholarship recipients from across Canada. Congratulations to three of our Grade 12 MaCS students (Tharani Anpalagan, Sloane Kowal and Winnie Shi) for each being awarded this prestigious scholarship!

  

• Toronto Science Fair

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  Congratulations to Dan Timonera (Grade 12 MaCS student) for receiving a bronze medal at the Toronto Science Fair this month!

  

• Michael Smith Science Challenge

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  Congratulations to our MaCS students who participated in the UBC Michael Smith Science Challenge this past winter. Irina Petrovic (Grade 10 MaCS) placed in the top 3% and the following three grade 10 MaCS students placed in the top 10% (Samantha Unger, Gina So, and Sarah Goldfarb).

  

• Dare to Dance

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  Congratulations to Devika Lekshmi(Grade 12 MaCS), Jinansh Shah (Grade 12 MaCS), and Seher Sarin (Grade 11 MaCS) who are part of the school's Dare to Dance team! The team has moved on to the TDSB wide Dare to Dance showcase later this spring at the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts.

  

• Sears Drama Festival

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  Congratulations to Rebecca Levin (Grade 12 MaCS), Sydney Kuhne (Grade 12 MaCS), and Oliver Daniel (Grade 10 MaCS) who were part of Mackenzie's Drama class that competed at the Ontario Sears Drama Festival with the knee-slapping comedy "Phoneplay," written by Evan Placey. At the North District award ceremony, Mackenzie took home 7 awards and also received one of only three OUTSTANDING PRODUCTIONS of the festival. Mackenzie is going on for a very prestigious spot at Hart House Theatre at the University of Toronto on April 7th.

  

• MSEO Middle School Science Olympics

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  On Tuesday March 8th, over two hundred middle-school students participated in the 10th annual Mackenzie Science and Engineering Olympics, a competition where grade 7 and 8 students put their scientific inquiry and teamwork abilities to the test. Thank you to the staff advisors and 130+ science club volunteers who made MSEO possible!

  

• Grade 10 MaCS Trip

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  This past week Grade 10 MaCS students spent three days at the Canadian Ecology Centre. Students were able to make connections to the grade 10 Science course, as well as having the opportunity to work with technologies including Global Positioning System (GPS) units, infrared goggles, digital microscopes, and Global Information Systems (GIS).

  

• MaCS Alumni News

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  Congratulations to Reyno Tilikaynen (Grade 12 MaCS Alumni) for receiving his first co-op placement this summer at Google. Reyno is currently in his first year of studies at the University of Waterloo.

  

• DECA Competition

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  Congratulations to all the students who participated this month at the Provincial DECA Championships! Mackenzie students received 64 medals at the event. Congratulations to the 15 MaCS students who have advanced to the DECA International Championships in Tennessee (Lucy Chen, Max Verzunov, Annie Tseng, Hillary Chan, Vevina Trinh, Nicholas Tommasini, Max Sossin, Jason Wang, Winnie Shi, Elizabeth Tater, Maliha Rahman, Esther Yoo, Julia Chae, Maya Li Preti and Emily Smith)!

  

• Loran Scholar

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  Congratulations to Aditi Sriram (Grade 12 MaCS) for being selected as a 2016 Loran Scholar. Only 30 Loran Scholars (www.loranscholar.ca) are selected in Canada each year. As a Loran Scholar Aditi will receive a university scholarship of $100,000! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/expectations-are-high-for-loran-scholars/article28750521/

  

• SHAD Valley

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  Congratulations to the following grade 10 and 11 MaCS students for being selected to the SHAD Valley Summer Canadian University Enrichment Program (www.shad.ca): Julia Chae, Aashmika Mali, Irina Petrovic, Zachary Teper, Annie Tseng, and Caleb Tseng-Tham!

  

• Congratulatory Scroll

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  Congratulations to Nikola Damjanovic (Grade 11 MaCS) for receiving a Congratulatory Scroll from Mayor John Tory and City Councillor James Pasternak for his contributions to the community, school, and Canada's Fencing Team!

  

• Forbes 30 Under 30 List

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  Congratulations to Danny Yaroslavski (MaCS Graduate 2009) for being named to the 2015 Forbes 30 Under 30 list! Danny is the founder of LightBot and was named by Forbes in the education category. Today, more than five million children are getting their first experience of computer science through Lightbot.

  

• Loran Scholarship National Finalist

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  Congratulations to Aditi Sriram for being selected as a national finalist for the Loran Scholarship. The foundation received 4,273 applications and Aditi was one of 80 finalists selected (top 2%) in Canada. After National Interviews in February, 30 Loran Scholars will be selected with each Award valued up to $100,000 over four years. We wish Aditi the best of luck at Nationals!

  

• Java After Dark

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  This week Mackenzie hosted our annual Java After Dark art performance. The Arts Council and performers put together an outstanding show for the audience to enjoy. MaCS students had the opportunity to display their talents in music, poetry, instrumentals, and visual arts.

  

• CBC Canada Writes Contest

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  Congratulations to Angie Lo (Grade 10 MaCS) for winning the CBC Canada Writes Contest. Angie wrote a monologue from the point of view of a Shakespearean character. As a prize for her winning entry, Angie received an iPad mini and our school library received 100 young adult books!

  

• DECA Competiton

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  Congratulations to all MaCS students who competed at the DECA Regionals this past Friday. Sixty-three Mackenzie students have moved on to the Provincial Championships! First place winners include Nicholas Tommasini (MaCS), Annie Tseng (MaCS), Max Verzunov (MaCS), Steven Zhang (MaCS), Edward Wang (MaCS), and Kevin Shen (MaCS).

  

• MaCS Entrance Test

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  On Friday November 13th over 500 applicants wrote the MaCS entrance test. We want to thank all applicants for their interest in the MaCS Program. Notification letters will be mailed the week of January 25, 2016.

  

• MaCS Information Night 2015

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  It was standing room only in our cafeteria and library as more than 1200 parents/guardians and potential MaCS students gathered to learn more about our MaCS program and how to apply. Current MaCS students and MaCS alumni spoke about their experiences in the program and answered questions from the audience.

  

• Mactoberfest 2015

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  Mackenzie spirit shined through at this year's Mactoberfest! Students enjoyed some great activities, delicious snacks, and participated in a Halloween costume contest!

  

• The COMC Math Contest

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  This week, MaCS students had the opportunity to write the COMC math contest. We wish all participants the best of luck!

  

• Grade 9 MaCS Trip - Muskoka Woods

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  The grade 9 MaCS students spent three days at Muskoka Woods developing their leadership and team building skills. It was a great experience for all of our grade 9 MaCS students!

  

• Grade 9 CNML Math Contest

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  Our 90 grade 9 MaCS students wrote the first of many math contests this past week!

  

• McMaster University Science Olympics

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  The Mackenzie Science Club rocked the competition at the McMaster Science Olympics on Thursday, October 8, 2015! In the Chemical Forensics event, we had a third place win for the team of Eric Song, Lande Du, Andrew Dumitrache and James Im. In the Biotech to the Rescue event, we had a second place win for the team of Sabrina Cancelliere, Sepi Mortazavi, Katya Potapov and Tharani Anpalagan. In the Global Water Challenge event, another second place win for the team of Kushan Zaveri, Joey Lakerdas-Gayle, Clark Tang and Hillary Chan.

  

With over 350 students, a good portion of the student population at Mackenzie is part of this program. This program is one of a kind, giving students many opportunities both academically and non-academically. Please feel free to take the time to search the site and learn about the many possibilities that are waiting for you. For a start, look at our Gallery Page for pictures and descriptions of a variety of activities/events our students take part in.

If you are interested in being a part of this elite program, please go to the Application Page for more information.

For present students, please go forward to the Current Events Page.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy your experience.

S. Leder

MaCS Coordinator
W.L. Mackenzie C.I.