In its heyday, Central Commerce high school was bursting at the seams and considered the place for businesses to recruit secretaries and executive assistants right out of high school.

With 2,400 students — mostly female — in the 1970s, the school’s field was full of portables to accommodate everyone. A big addition to the old main building followed, to keep up with the demand for its programs in shorthand, typing, bookkeeping and accountancy.

But two years ago, as Central Commerce celebrated its 100th anniversary, it was clear those days were over, with enrolment down to about 400 students in a building with room for 1,000.

Now, in an effort to refresh, rebrand and rid itself of a name that no longer has anything to do with the programs it offers, Central Commerce Collegiate is officially Central Toronto Academy.

The school, on Shaw St. just north of College, held an official unveiling of the new name Thursday.

“I came here in 2011, and I saw a lot of things but not commerce as the focus of the school,” said principal Iwona Kurman. “We have arts and culture specialist high-skills majors,” she said, referring to programs that allow students to take a cluster of courses in one specialty area.

“We have a (major) in health and wellness, a bike repair program — the only one in the Toronto District School Board,” plus digital arts programming and creative programs, where kids work with local graffiti or silkscreen artists.

It is also starting to offer academically intensive Advanced Placement courses. Teachers were among the first in the board to use blended learning — classroom time plus online resources and blogs. And a partnership with the Canadian Basketball Academy draws high-performance student athletes, who train for part of the day on-site.

Kurman said the school “used to be triple C, and now we are triple A — academics, arts and athletics, which are reflected in the name ‘academy.’”

“We are not about to forget the history and tradition of this school,” Kurman added. “We will never forget where we came from. But we can’t have this teaching, and this structure, not fully utilized.”

Karen Falconer, the board superintendent who oversaw much of the two-year transformation of Central Commerce, said students and alumni were consulted about the name, and no one seemed attached to it.

“But the dramatic move for us was taking a school that was without a central purpose, without a focus, and turning it into a school where the students felt they were as valued, in terms of the programming, as many other students across the city. That, for me, was far more important than the name change,” she said.

“We wanted to do well by the students.”

Vice-principal Timothy Seabrook said the neighbourhood has changed, and gentrified, and families have been choosing other nearby high schools.

But he pointed to the semestered system, tech-savvy staff and the diverse population as reasons for students to choose Central Toronto Academy.

“This is a friendly, welcoming place,” where block parties — barbecues — are held in the atrium that links the old and new buildings, to foster the close-knit atmosphere.

School secretary Anna Patricio was a student there in the 1970s, when the school “had a great reputation. All of the big companies like Bell or Toronto Hydro, and a lot of insurance companies, would all come and solicit Central Commerce students. It had a reputation for excellent training.”

Today, she still feels the warm relationships between students and staff, and said teachers often call the place a “hidden gem.”

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“We don’t want to be hidden any more,” adds Kurman.

When Central Commerce high school celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1986, alumni wrote about their experiences, including one man who graduated in 1920 and landed a job before even writing final exams.

Former Toronto mayor Mel Lastman met his wife, Marilyn, at Central Commerce, and said it helped him become a successful entrepreneur. He wrote: “I have been called the greatest salesman in Canada, and I’ll be darned if I will dispute that title. My high school deserves part of the credit for this.”

TDSB archivist Greg McKinnon: “Commerce schools were extremely well received when they started in the Toronto system. Over the years, graduates were able to find work during trying financial periods in Toronto history (and the rest of the country) such as the Depression. The skills taught and learned at the commerce schools always seems to be in demand, sometimes more so than the technical schools and the collegiate institutes of the times.”