Ottawa Technical High School - The Zenith of Ottawa Technical High School

The Zenith of Ottawa Technical High School

Although Ottawa Tech seemed to decline in later years, many now regard the 1950s and 1960s as its zenith, both in enrollment numbers and breadth of course opportunities. Under the leadership of Leo McCarthy, novel changes at Ottawa Tech began to attract many students from miles around the city of Ottawa. Other high schools continued to offer, and often required, studies in Latin, an increasingly unpopular course. Leo McCarthy's pre-engineering courses at Ottawa Tech allowed university-bound students from around the city an option to combine high-level academic courses with useful technical courses e.g. electronics and machine shops, from the excellent vocational instructors at Ottawa Tech. In addition, the welcome relief from Latin courses allowed many academic students to intensively study instrumental and vocal music, and some outstanding, notable careers were launched, guided from the outset by the expertise of John P. Murdie (band and music theory) and Carman Milligan (chorus and music theory). In fact, after winning provincial and national honours at the Kiwanis Music Festival Band Competitions in Toronto, Ontario, in 1962, the Ottawa Technical High School Band went on to make history as the first Canadian high-school boys-band to embark on a European Tour in the summer of 1963, an opportunity seeded by an initial offer from KLM, Royal Dutch Airlines.

Leo McCarthy turned over his principal duties to Ross Beck in the early 1960s, but continued to be passionately involved in educational services: In 1965, Leo McCarthy was one of the 32 members of the Board of Governors of the University of Ottawa. Carleton University, in Ottawa, recognized Leo McCarthy's contributions in Educational Service by awarding him an honorary LL.D. degree in 1974. More recently, in 2002, the Arnold Bradley Scholarship in Geology was established by Arnold Bradley, who wished "to recognize Mr. Leo McCarthy, a former mathematics teacher and Mr. W. Morwick, a former chemistry teacher with the Ottawa Technical School, both of whom inspired Mr. Arnold's interest in science and assisted Mr. Arnold in obtaining his first position with the National Research Council."