Clubs and Activities

Art Club (Visual & Mural)

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Nicole Todd
  • Description: Art club aims to provide a space for exploration of new ideas, creativity and stress-relief. Our focus is dictated by the interests of the members, from life drawing practice and sketching to creating large murals that cover the CPC hallways. 

Athletic Council

  • Grade: 9-12
  • Staff Moderators: Lisa Newton, Kim Williams, Shane Rover, Mark Pagano
  • Description: The Athletic Council is a group of student-athletes with a shared passion for school spirit and athletic endeavors. They ensure that each athletic game is properly staffed through volunteering their time and supporting their peers. They are also responsible for the planning and execution of your favourite school events, like the Athletic Banquet Boat Cruise and Spirit Week!

 Book Club

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Elena Young (Senior: 9-12)
  • Description: Book Club is a place for students who love to read, or feel like reading more, to come together and share their passion with each other. Each meeting, we brainstorm authors or books we think would be a good fit for the club, and students select one book for the club to read at a time. During our meetings, we check in about what we think about the books as we’re reading them, and then at the end of reading the book, we have a discussion or activity about each book before reading the next.

Chess Club

  • Grade: 9-12
  • Staff Moderators: Chris Jull
  • Description: The Chess Club is a large intramural group that meets once a week to play rated games on our own ladder system.  The top individual players are also invited to represent the school in individual and team competitions in the GTA and beyond.  The culmination of our season is the Ontario High School Chess Competition in April.  We meet on Tuesdays at lunch in Room 205.

Crestword Newspaper

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Elena Young, Leah Good
  • Description: The Crestword is CPC’s student newspaper. As a publication, we aim to give the Crestwood student-body a space to write about the issues that matter to them most. In each edition, published about 2 or 3 times a year, we feature investigative journalism, opinion-writing, and creative writing that is curated, written, and edited by our team of student writers and editors. 

Crestwood Voices

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Chris Jull
  • Description: Crestwood Voices is our staff-student chamber choir.  We practise on Thursday mornings from 7:30-8:15 in the Music Room.  We sing a wide variety of classical and contemporary works and perform at Music Nights, assemblies and other school events.  No audition is required, but an ability to read music is helpful.

Digital Art & Yearbook Club

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Jackie Stendel
  • Description: The Digital Art/Yearbook is a student-focused publication club where members work together to collaboratively build the CPC yearbook each year (sort pictures, organize page development, and monitor yearbook progress). 

Business Competition Club

  • Grade: 10-12
  • Staff Moderators: Bryan Tran, Sue Lyons, Eleni Gicas
  • Description: The Business Competition Club is a student driven initiative. The student leadership organizes and practices for competitions.  Many members take part in the Financial Literacy and DECA competitions.

Drama Production

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Emilio Colalillo, Shannon Hancocks
  • Description: The play is open to anyone in grades seven to twelve who enjoy acting or want to work backstage. Auditions will commence at the beginning of November for any actors, and the backstage crew commences in April.  We typically rehearse twice a week until winter, and then four days a week in the new year.  The play is at the end of April and this year’s show will be announced later this fall.

Fashion Club

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Lisa Belanger
  • Description: Fashion club is for any individual interested in modeling, fashion design, set design, clothing and careers in the fashion industry.  Our goal is to promote school spirit while encouraging students to engage in their fashion forward creativity.

Female Peer Leadership

  • Grade: 11-12
  • Staff Moderators: Lisa Newton, Kathryn Appleby, Christine Somerville, Claudia Guarrasi, Jenna Kelly
  • Description: The mission of this program is to empower girls and young women to believe in themselves and to help them reach their full potential by providing a mentoring relationship between younger and older students.  Grade 11-12 female students are given a wonderful leadership opportunity while providing answers and reassurance to younger grade 7-8 female students.

Game Design Club

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Nicole Todd
  • Description: The Game Design Club is focused on exploring different game-making techniques with a focus on designing a finished game. Our goal is to develop a sense of what makes successful games, both analog and digital.

Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA)

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Elena Young, Emilio Colalillo, Maxie Richman, Sue Lyons
  • Description: The GSA is actively committed to ensuring that Crestwood Preparatory College is an inclusive environment for members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community, while also creating a space for issues pertaining to the 2SLGBTQI+ community to be discussed in a safe, non-judgemental environment.

Glee Club

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Juavon Herbert
  • Description: The Glee Club hopes to empower its members to sing loud, while hoping the world is listening. Through a deep dive of pop culture, The Glee Club, focuses on recreating past and present musical hits while exploring a student’s vocal expressions as soloist and within smaller ensembles.  

Green Team

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Sue Lyons, Lisa Belanger, Claudia Guarrasi
  • Description: The Green Team is an open club with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of Crestwood. The mission is to create awareness and influence policy to help the Crestwood community make better environmental decisions.

History Club!

  • Grade: 9-12
  • Staff Moderators: Scott Masters
  • Description: History Club! is devoted to giving Crestwood students an opportunity to grow and share their love of all things historical. In addition to participating in interviews with interesting individuals, club members also help to acknowledge and celebrate important events at the school, including Orange Shirt Day, Black History month, and Person’s Day.

Jazz Band

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Anthony Mariano
  • Description: Jazz band rehearses every Thursday after school, playing styles ranging from Rock to Pop to Swing and Bebop.  This is open to anyone in Gr. 7-12 that plays either a wind instrument and/or rhythmic instruments (i.e., piano, guitar, bass, drums) and can sight read sheet music.  We perform at various school events throughout the year, including both our Winter and Spring Festival of the Arts and Technology.

Junior Prefects

  • Grade: 7-8
  • Staff Moderators: Christine Somerville, Nicole Todd, Amy Woodruff
  • Description: Members of the Junior Prefects act as representatives for Crestwood’s Grade 7 and Grade 8 student body. The focus of this club is to develop effective leadership skills through the planning and implementation of school initiatives and events. 

Junior Robotics (Lego)

  • Grade: 7-8
  • Staff Moderators: Nicole Todd, Ron English
  • Description: Students in the LEGO robotics program learn the fundamentals of the EV3 LEGO Technic platform and use a variety of sensors and motors to solve a series of challenges. In addition to learning technical skills, they are also put through a series of interviews with judges to demonstrate their presentation and communication skills!

Male Mentorship

  • Grade: 11-12
  • Staff Moderators: Shane Rover, Anthony Mariano, Mark Pagano, Curtis Tindale
  • Description: The male mentorship program is for grade 11 and 12’s who identify as male and wish to be involved in mentoring and building community at Crestwood. Mentors meet monthly with male junior students to be their support and go to while developing positive masculinity and Crestwood ideals. 

MAPP

  • Grade: 7-9
  • Staff Moderators: David Rachlis, Curtis Tindale
  • Description: MAPP (Maximizing Academic Performance Program) provides extra support to students 7-9, who need a structured and quiet place to complete homework and while receiving support with organization.

Model UN

  • Grade: 9-12
  • Staff Moderators: Jesse Scott, Scott Masters
  • Description: Crestwood’s MUN club has been sending students to the University of Toronto Model United Nations Assembly (UTMUN) for a number of years now.  UTMUN is typically held each February on the campus of the University of Toronto.  Student delegates represent many interesting countries and diplomats, as students role-play their way through a series of crises and resolutions.  Over the three day conference, the students have the chance to participate in the various committees of UTMUN, including the Security Council, UNEP, UNCPD and so on.  On these committees, the students debate current international issues, so they have to be well-versed in the foreign policies of their respective countries, as well as the operations of the UN in general. 

Peer Tutoring

  • Grade: 10-12
  • Staff Moderators: Nasser Koaich
  • Description: The Peer Tutoring club provides academic support to students.  Peer tutors meet one-on-one and assist students with homework, test preparation, and peer editing.

Photography Team

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Emilio Colalillo
  • Description: The purpose of the photography team is to document the daily activities and events at Crestwood. Images captured are extensively used in the school’s publications, social media outlets and weekly newsletters.

Problem Solving Club

  • Grade: 9-12
  • Staff Moderators: Scott Walker
  • Description: The Problem Solving Club meets every Friday after school to prepare for math contests. Students learn and discuss problem solving techniques and then have an opportunity to apply them to challenging contest questions.

Purdue University Science Lecture Series

  • Grade: 9-12
  • Staff Moderators: Dave Rachlis, Rob Karisch
  • Description: The Science Lecture Series is an open club, designed for students (Grades 9-12) who are curious about scientific research and want to know more about it and how to get involved. This club gives high school students access to Purdue University graduate students, who will share their areas of interest and study and discuss the paths that led to their current positions via Zoom. The students will also learn about postsecondary and career alternatives in scientific research.

Reach for the Top (Senior)

  • Grade: 9-12
  • Staff Moderators: Scott Masters, Chris Jull
  • Description: Reach for the Top is our intramural trivia competition for Grades 9-12 students.  Students sign up in teams of 4-6 and answer questions about everything under the sun . . . with buzzers!

Reach for the Top (Junior)

  • Grade: 7-8
  • Staff Moderators: Dave Rachlis, Matthew David
  • Description: Junior Reach for the Top is a trivia competition designed for students in Grades 7-8. In this club, they will be given the opportunity to test their knowledge of trivia, and compete with their peers, individually or in teams. 

Rock Band

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Juavon Herbert, Anthony Mariano
  • Description: Crestwood’s Rock Band is a club open to anyone at school who can sing, play guitar, drums, bass, or just loves rock’n’roll music. The Rock Band learns a new set of cover songs every year, ranging from the White Stripes and The Beatles, to Nirvana. For those about to rock . . . we salute you!

Senior Prefects

  • Grade: 9-12
  • Staff Moderators: Tracy Santomero, Aisling O’Neill, Mark Pagano, Amy Woodruff
  • Description: The Prefect Council is an opportunity for students to develop their leadership skills, with an emphasis on members’ roles as school ambassadors and role models. The Prefect Council is chosen from grades 9-12 at the school, and will also include the Past Head Prefect (if possible). The first and primary responsibility for members of the Prefect Council will be to develop and nurture a positive and inclusive school culture. Prefects must be mature students willing to lead by example, who are committed to improving the quality of life at CPC. Members of the Prefect Council will be called upon at times throughout the year to represent the school at various functions.  Members of the Prefect Council roles and responsibilities may include:
    • Attending meetings during lunch hours and committing time inside and outside of school to planning and carrying out events and initiatives.
    • Organizing and promoting 2-3 major events throughout the year.
    • Responsible for organizing/promoting charitable events and other community initiatives
    • The committee will seek to develop meaningful links between Crestwood students and the broader community, as well as to raise social awareness/sensitivity at CPC.
    • Promoting and building school spirit, and fostering an environment of collegiality among students at the school.
    • Organizing day-to-day initiatives for Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Town Hall, lunch-time, etc.
    • Provide supplemental support for larger school events such as Spirit Week, Chinese New Year’s Celebration, etc.

Senior Robotics (First Tech Challenge)

  • Grade: 9-12 (Experience)
  • Staff Moderators: Ron English, Chris Jull
  • Description: FIRST Tech Challenge is a robotics team for students in grades 9–12 to compete head to head, by designing, building, and programming a robot to compete in an alliance format against other teams. Teams are also put through a rigorous interview process so they can showcase their presentation and communication skills.

Strings Club

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Anthony Mariano
  • Description: The Strings club is open to anyone that plays violin, cello and other string family members.  We rehearse every Monday after school and play various styles from rock/pop to classical to traditional music.  We perform at various events, including Crestwood Prep’s annual Winter and Spring Festival of the Arts and Technology.  Some of our selected works include Beatles’ classics Lady Madonna and Come Together, Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want, and holiday favourites like Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.  

Table Tennis Club

  • Grade: 7-12
  • Staff Moderators: Jesse Scott
  • Description: Crestwood’s table tennis club is open to everyone, experienced and new players alike. Students improve  hand-eye coordination, balance and reflexes all while having fun.

YARRD (Youth Against Racial and Religious Discrimination)

  • Grade: 9-12
  • Staff Moderators: Scott Masters, Chris Jull
  • Description: YARRD is our student-driven social justice club at the school.  Members take a leading role in interviews for the Oral History Project, and other speakers are brought in to match student interests.