Accomplishments

In addition to their academic pursuits, many TOPS students have achieved excellence in their extracurricular activities both within and outside of the school environment. In recent years, TOPS students have achieved the following:

• TOPS students consistently qualify to compete at international olympiads by performing well in national level competitions

  • 1 student earned bronze at the 2019 IBO (International Biology Olympiad), and 2 earned bronze at the 2018 IBO

  • 1 student earned bronze at the 2019 IPHO (International Physics Olympiad), and another medalled bronze in 2017

  • 1 student earned gold at the 2019 IMO (International Math Olympiad), and earned silver at the 2018 and 2017 IMOs

  • 3 TOPS students participated in the 2019 IOI (International Olympiad in Informatics), with one winning silver and one winning bronze; in 2018, two TOPS students competed at the IOI, with both earning silver

• TOPS students generally do very well on math competitions held by both Canadian and American organizations

  • MGCI students consistently rank in the top 2 amongst Canadian schools for most CEMC contests such as the Pascal, Fryer, and Cayley

  • Several TOPS students have medalled on the COMC in their division over the past few years 

  • In 2020, around 25% of all TOPS students who wrote the AMC qualified for the AIME, as opposed to the overall 5% cutoff 

• TOPS students often excel athletically outside of school, with many competing on a provincial, national, or international level

  • A TOPS student was a two-time junior Pan Am quarterfinalist, national silver medallist and bronze medallist, and was previously ranked 5th in singles and 2nd in doubles nationally in badminton

  • A TOPS student qualified for the Canadian Olympic Trials in 2016 for swimming, and was also a several-time OFSAA winner. Others have qualified for national competition, and a TOPS student won bronze at OFSAA for swimming in both 2017 and 2019

  • A TOPS student won gold for the under-18 competition at the Canadian Championships for table tennis in 2018, as part of team Ontario. The student has also won silver and bronze individually at the provincial competition, in 2018 and 2019 respectively

  • A TOPS graduate from 2018 has qualified for the 2020 Olympics as part of team Canada for fencing, with several other students having competed internationally in the sport

  • A TOPS student medalled in the Canadian Championships for trampoline in 2019 at the Level 6 level of competition 

  • TOPS students have also competed provincially in figure skating, cross country running, and curling, amongst other sports 

• Two TOPS students competed at the North American Youth Chess Championship in 2017. Marc Garneau CI chess teams, many of who are TOPS students, have also won the Toronto Secondary School Chess Championship for two years in a row at the senior level 

• TOPS students consistently excel as musicians and artists. Many are part of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra or have earned their ARCT, while some have gone on to even perform internationally on stages such as the one at Carnegie Hall

• In 2018 and 2019, several TOPS students placed in the top 3 in their event at the international DECA conference known as ICDC. This includes a pair that won first in their event, placing first internationally

• Marc Garneau C.I’s newspaper The Reckoner, which has many TOPS students as part of its staff, has consistently been recognized as one of the best high school newspapers in the city at the Toronto High School Journalism Awards. Many students have won individual awards for their pieces or photos, while the paper as a whole won the distinction of Best Newspaper in 2016 and 2014

• In 2020, 27 TOPS students qualified for international competition in DECA

• In 2017, a group of TOPS students placed first internationally in their HOSA event, with many others having achieved top 3 distinctions on a national stage from 2017-2019

• TOPS has consistently sent students to prestigious university programs in both Canada and the USA. 2019 stands out in particular for American universities, with two graduates moving on to Princeton, one moving on to study at Harvard, one attending MIT, one attending UC Berkeley, one attending the University of Southern California, one attending the University of Pennsylvania, one attending Duke, and one attending the University of Chicago

• TOPS students have performed well in debate tournaments, with one placing top eight at the 2019 Harvard International Debate competition and first at the 2020 Western debate tournament. Another student placed third at Hart House

• TOPS students frequently receive large scholarships from across Canada. In recent years, these have included the Loran Scholarship, the UofT National Scholarship, and the Queens Faculty Entrance Scholarship, amongst others