Nikola Tesla Secondary School

The Hamilton Wenthworth District School Board (HWDSB), in Hamilton, Ontario is building a new Secondary School. In light of the recent initiative to link Hamilton to the famous inventor and innovator, Nikola Tesla, and as such to associate Hamilton with education, technology, and innovation, we propose naming the new High School as the "Nikola Tesla Secondary School".

HWDSB’s new North Secondary School will be located at 1055 King Street East (former Scott Park Secondary School site). This beautifully designed secondary school will be constructed to meet the needs of students, while complementing in the adjacent Tim Horton's Field, Jimmy Thompson pool and the new City of Hamilton Bernie Morelli Recreation Centre. It will accommodate 1,250 pupils, for those living in the Sir John A. Macdonald and Delta catchment areas. It will be a state of the art facility.

The City of Hamilton was once know as The Ambitious City, and many years before that, as "The Electric City"! It was the industrial heartland of Canada. It was the Steel City of Canada, as Pittsburgh was once the Steel City of America. But, as the steel industry, and other manufacturing, declined, so has the City of Hamilton. It is time for Hamilton to reinvent, and re-brand itself. Just like Pittsburgh, it is time to embrace education, technology and innovation. What better way to do this then to re-establish links and association with Nikola Tesla. This man was a world famous inventor, innovator, and genius who changed the world, and influenced the industrialisation of Hamilton over a hundred years ago. His name and ideas continue to be relevant today, and are associated with creativity, education, invention, innovation, technology, wireless, electric cars, renewable energy, sustainable development, etc. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla) Let's strengthen the association between Hamilton with Tesla, and those attributes, and reinvent this city. Let's be "The Ambitious City" once again!

The Nikola Tesla Education Corporation (NTEC), is a Registered Canadian Charitable organisation, with the mission to educate the public about Nikola Tesla’s work and to inspire the youth to understand his work, and to pursue his innovative spirit and higher education. We currently provide awards to students, and will soon introduce scholarships. Our goal is to inspire youth to higher education, technology and innovation. For that we need the youth to be aware of Tesla, his inventions, and to be informed of his significant contributions to the world, to Hamilton, and to the way we live today! Think of how much electrical distribution, the electric motor, and wireless transmission, have made our life better. This is all attributable to Tesla. We want to make sure the youth know that, and are inspired by him. See more at http://teslaeducational.ca

Why Hamilton? As mentioned before, Tesla helped Hamilton become industrialised in the first place! The city of Hamilton was the 1'st major city in Canada to have AC electrical power, which was received from DeCew Falls, Generating Station No. 1. Built in 1898, DeCew Falls 1 is the oldest continuously running hydroelectric power generating station in Canada, and one of the first to recognise and implement Nikola Tesla’s 1888 invention, “Polyphase Alternating Current”. The station was built by the “Five Johns” of Hamilton (Dickenson, Gibson, Moodie, Patterson, and Sutherland). The Cataract Power Company, assembled the hydro-electric generating plant about 35 miles from Hamilton in 1898. Current flowed to the city for the first time on August 25, 1898. See The Hamilton Spectator August 26, 1898 article “Power Turned On”: http://teslaeducational.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Spec-26-8-1898.jpg

The City of Hamilton prospered immensely in the early 1900’s, with major manufacturing companies being established or opening branch plants in Hamilton. The massive investments in plants in the east end of Hamilton resulted in an increasing need of workers. The population doubled in the first 14 year of the 20th century. The Five Johns were successful in transmitting the power over a great distance, the second longest transition in the world at the time. Hamilton reaped the rewards of their achievement and was known a “The Electric City”. The city advertisement of “Hamilton’s cheap electricity” attracted even more industries. The existing steel related plants quickly converted to electrical power as it was cheaper than other forms and sources of power. With the abundance of the steel from the mills, other plants that required the steel established plants in Hamilton, in the North End. And, the rest is history!

Hamilton can once again become a prosperous, relevant and growing city, an ambitious city, by embracing education, innovation, and technology. Tesla's ideas remain relevant, and even futuristic. His name is associated with creativity, education, invention, innovation, technology, wireless, radio, x-ray, electric cars, renewable energy, sustainable development, etc. Let's re-establish our link with Tesla, through this initiative, and re-establish a link with these attributes to the City of Hamilton. Let's reinvent and re-brand the City. If we start looking at our city differently, so will others. Let's be the Ambitious City once again! Let's name the new high school to the "Nikola Tesla Secondary School", to show the word that we are serious about education, technology and innovation.

Please sign the petition, and spread the word by letting all your family and friends know about this initiative and petition.

Thank you.