Cathy Keenan

The life of a group of adolescents going through the trials and tribulations of teendom at Degrassi Community School.

Degrassi Junior High is a Canadian CBC Television teen drama series that was produced from 1987-1989 as part of the Degrassi series. The show followed the lives of a group of students attending the titular fictional school. Many episodes tackled difficult topics such as drug use, child abuse, teenage pregnancy, homosexuality, homophobia, racism, and divorce, and the series was acclaimed for its sensitive and realistic portrayal of the challenges of teenage life. The cast comprised mainly non-professional actors, which added to the show's sense of realism. The series featured many of the same actors who had starred on The Kids of Degrassi Street a few years earlier, including Stacie Mistysyn, Neil Hope, Anais Granofsky, Sarah Charlesworth and others. However, their character names and family situations had been changed, so Degrassi Junior High cannot, therefore, be considered a direct spinoff. The legal counsel for all the episodes was Stephen Stohn who later became the executive producer of Degrassi: The Next Generation. The series was filmed at the unused Vincent Massey Public School in Etobicoke, Ontario.

Degrassi High is the third television show in the Degrassi series of teen dramas about the lives of a group of teenagers living on or near De Grassi Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It first aired from 1989 to 1991 and followed the young people from The Kids of Degrassi Street and Degrassi Junior High through high school. The show was filmed in downtown Toronto and at Centennial College. Much like its predecessor, Degrassi High dealt with controversial issues ranging from AIDS, abortion, abuse, alcoholism, cheating, sex, death and suicide, dating, depression, bullying, gay rights, homophobia, racism, the environment, drugs, and eating disorders. The show's impact on Canadian identity is discussed in the September 2007 issue of u're Magazine.