The long weekend provided everyone with a perfect pause before completing the remainder of our final term. The last three to four weeks of the school year are always some of the most hectic, and the long weekend provides an opportunity for everyone to either get some necessary rest, catch up on school work, or find some time with friends and family.

The big school trip on offer this long weekend was a trip to Hawaii. It is always highly anticipated and plenty of fun is crammed into the short trip. Some of the activities include surfing, a shark cage dive, snorkeling, beach hangouts, Dole pineapple plantation visit, and a tour of Pearl Harbor.

Ian and Ren took off to Ontario and while spending time with family they enjoyed Niagara Falls as well as some local cuisine.

Lots of students have been working hard on their studies in an effort to end the year on a strong note. Christian sought the aid of our in house Spanish expert, Sr. Barahona, while working on his oral skills.

The announcement for next year’s heads of house came out this week and we managed to catch one of our heads in the act of discovering the news. Notice the plural used for “Heads” of House, as next year we will be trialing a two person head of house scenario. For Bolton, next year’s Heads of House will be Lucas and Savo. Congrats!

There is never a dull moment around the house, and a few of our building neighbors from Timmis convinced some Bolton penguins to let them practice their makeup skills. Some exciting new looks were the product of the practice!

Mujtaba and Justin were hard at work this week hosting the junior school for some excitement and games. It was part of the iBellieve initiative to honor SMUS Alumnus Simon Ibell while promoting fun and activity amongst youth and raising awareness of the rare disease MPS II – Hunter Syndrome.

There was a recent jazz concert put on by Middle and Senior Schools. By all accounts it was well attended and a superb performance. Take a listen!

Continuing the music theme, Piano Club and Music Club cohosted chapel and Bolton’s Jeremy tickled the ivories and ran the opening breaths. Well done!

In our upcoming House Olympics, spikeball has been identified as one of the activities. As a result, there have been several days of spikeball on the field with students lapping up the evening’s rays and honing their skills.

The senior Boys Rugby Team was up at UVic this past week for the Island Championships where they met rival school Brentwood College in the finals. It was a superior performance by a much improved SMUS side who are peaking at the right time for the upcoming provincials. The game’s 53-5 scoreline was indicative of the team’s dominance.

Leupold was away at the lower Island Championships where he put on one of the most impressive performances of the meet. He competed in the high jump, triple jump, and long jump where he placed first in the two former events to capture recognition as the Highest Aggregate Score and Outstanding Athlete in Senior Boys Field.

Our final competitors were Krissh and Wataru in the Provincial Championships for Tennis. The team played admirably and finished with the bronze medal, finishing third overall in the province.

What a warm weekend here in Victoria! Monday marked the start of Term 6, our last term of the year. It feels like summer has arrived, and what better the to beat the heat than spending time at the beach! Here are some photos of the highlights from our Grade 11 Leadership Retreat this past Saturday at French Beach. 

It was a great day of teambuilding and leadership activities surrounded by nature.

As we head into this four day week before the long weekend, we wish all of our Bolton Penguins a restful and enjoyable May long weekend.

We finally turned the corner on weather and have been enjoying the sunshine and warmer days. Several people were out playing soccer yesterday and as noted by the videos, the goaltending was particularly strong!

After school on Thursday, there was also an impromptu baseball game that got going on the field and Bolton was at the heart of the action!

Inaki went for a walk down to Willows Beach and managed to take in some sunshine. Not quite like the beaches of Mexico but still beautiful!

Last weekend was a busy one with alumni in town, and there were plenty of festivities. Several rugby games punctuated Saturday and many of our students operated vendor stalls with a variety of items on offer.

Prior to the Alumni Day rugby game, there was an annual Rugby Alumni Dinner where players were presented with their jerseys for the game the following day. Four Bolton people were part of the event and proudly received their game jerseys. Coaches and Bolton Houseparents, Mr. Danskin and Mr. Kim, were also on hand for the event and were excited to see such great representation from the house.

Ai was quick to ready himself for the sunny weather, donning what must be one of the more impressive tank tops around!

It was a Timmis Trophy week for room cleaning inspections and, as expected, everyone stepped up the quality. There were also plenty of bonus enticements put on by our “penguins” to woo the judges into selecting their room as the cleanliest. Lighting, music, food bribes, and even the fireplace channel on computers were all methods employed.

In an engineering challenge, students needed to use the laser cutter and 3D printer to create a tool that automated the game of crokinole. After some epic showdowns, “Connor’s Team” narrowly lost in the finals.

Not to be outdone, Seb and Harun played with Bays United U18 Silver Soccer team

With APs and finals around the corner, our Bolton Penguins are getting down to business with their studies during prep.

During our house meeting, we gave out a handful of Bolton pins for those who best exemplify the Bolton values inside and outside of the house. Ian, Inaki, Christian and Bradley were all given theirs for their work in the SMUS Art Show a few weeks back and Cesar was awarded the Bolton pin for “sweeping the sheds” – something that is preached during every meeting. Well done Penguins!

Rockin’ and Rollin’ Down South! Interview from our Musical Virtuoso about their trip to Cuba

Hayes and Peter were part of the School’s band trip down to Cuba over spring break! Peter, the guitarist, and Hayes, saxophone extraordinaire, were two of 42 students who took part in the trip.

What were your first impressions of Cuba?

Hayes: Super hot! The beautiful weather just hits you as you come off the plane!

Peter: The culture was very unique! It was odd at first not to see some of the daily items you would see everywhere in Canada.

How many schools did you visit?

Peter: We visited two schools!

Hayes: And one community centre!

Peter: We would play for about 35 minutes or 5 songs and then watch them

How were they?

Hayes: They were great – super gifted! They didn’t even need to look at their sheets of music

Any favourite moments?

Peter: Loved the beaches and lounging by the ocean!

Hayes: I really liked seeing the streets and all the retro cars!

Final question – Would you travel with Mr. Fryer again??

Peter: Oh ya would do it again!

Hayes: I guess.

We have been battling the elements lately with unseasonably cold temperatures and wet weather. Next weekend is the highly anticipated annual Alumni Weekend and thankfully the weather looks like it is taking a turn for the better. Last weekend’s House Games saw rain, high winds, and sleet as students braved the conditions in an effort to put Bolton back on top for house points. There was quite a range of activities on offer, including handball, Ultimate Frisbee, Kickball, and team challenges. Bolton did not disappoint and managed to remain within 20 points of the lead. As we head into our final weekend of competition after the May Long Weekend with ‘House Olympics’, we are well poised for victory. Stay tuned!

This year saw an art show display in Brown Hall that showcased art from many of our Bolton students. There were some impressive pieces and it is always a thrill seeing your work featured for the community to enjoy. The art show certainly highlighted the fact that we have many talented individuals in the house!

Saturday activities this week have many exciting offerings and our students were captured in photos during a coastal nature hike and while competing in a croquet session in the school quad.

Welcome back to all of the penguins! It sounded like everyone had a relaxing time all over the world. Many went home, but some penguins joined school trips to Cuba and Vietnam!

Things got started right back up as students were arriving back to campus from their breaks!

Our rugby players were back at training on a few of the beautiful days this week. Both the junior and senior teams won matches over the last few days. Congratulations to them!

Early in the week a Bolton alum from last year Noah decided to visit from Germany!

This past Friday was Tommy’s birthday and a group of friends got him a cake and sang him happy birthday!

Also on Friday was the SMUS model UN. I’ve included a picture of him dressed up for the event!

On Saturday, because all of the houses had their Gr. 11 leadership retreat, Mr. Kim took the 9’s and 10’s to the swimming pool. Unfortunately, Bolton’s retreat was postponed due to the downpouring rain we have been experiencing periodically this spring.

This weeks boarders chapel focused on the fact that there are only 9 weeks of school left before the summer. We want to promote positivity, finishing the year off strong and for our Gr. 12’s to make some lasting memories. We concluded the evening with a performance of Imagine by a group of boarders. Bolton’s Peter Wang played guitar! Here’s a video of the great performance!

With the end of the term and an extended spring break upon us, the Bolton Penguins show how well-rounded we can be!

Max was feeling like a homecooked meal so he made himself some spaghetti; while Hanson and Darren made and sold their specialty grilled cheese sandwiches for their business class!

Declan and the Grade 9 basketball team placed 5th in the province at the provincial championships! They even had the energy to cheer on the Senior Girls basketball team in the finals of their provincials.

Always giving a helping hand, Savo, along with Martin, Nokia, and Seb, helped the senior rugby team to a few wins over the week! Savo was also the most recent recipient of the Bolton Pin!

The rest of the week flew by as it was the end of term four. This meant a lot of studying, tests and some much needed rest over the weekend. This Monday is the beginning of term five and Friday marks the beginning of spring break. Students will be heading all over the world! Many going straight home or visiting family nearby and some are going on a music trip to Cuba. We wish everyone a safe, positive, and relaxing break! We will see you back in April.

This past Saturday saw the grand finale of Fiddler on the Roof, a SMUS production at the MacPherson Theatre that took several months, countless rehearsals and a ridiculous amount of behind-the-scenes work to pull off. The seats were packed, and the crowd were treated to 4 amazing shows filled with singing, dancing, acting and amazing special effects. From Bolton House, we had two representatives take up important roles in the show: Peter showcased his guitar/ mandolin skills in the pit orchestra, and Savo got into character as a solider who shows no mercy in raiding a happy wedding between two lovebirds living in the innocent village of Anatevka. Savo and Peter were both amazing, and even though they were extremely tired from striking the set and moving props late into Saturday night, they agreed to sit down on Sunday afternoon for an exclusive interview reflecting on their musical experience.

On a scale of 1-10, how tired are you after last night’s final show?

Peter: 10.

Savo: 9 – We went straight from the end of Closing Night to cleaning up the set and bringing everything back to the school, so we didn’t get back to the boarding house until almost 1 o’clock in the morning..!

What made you want to get involved with Fiddler on the Roof?

Savo: Partly, it was the fact that my friend Hugo told me to join and I said yes. At the same time, Mr. Collett needed a few rugby players who could play the Russian soldier parts and also look intimidating. It was a relatively small role, but it was a huge commitment.

Peter: I was in the pit orchestra for last year’s show, SMUS Revue, and I enjoyed that experience so I decided to get involved again this year. This year’s show was also interesting in that I had the chance to play both the guitar and the mandolin.

What was your main highlight from the show?

Peter: For the last show on Saturday night, my guitar decided to stop working so I had to play the mandolin for every single piece. It was super stressful, but it also allowed me to get creative and even do a little bit of improvisation which was pretty exciting.

Savo: Definitely getting to (fake) beat the wedding guest to the ground and (fake) kicking him while he was down.

If anyone is on the fence about getting involved with the musical next year, what advice would you give them?

Savo: I had a pretty different idea of what the musical was like before I actually got involved. After having tried it, it’s safe to say that it is actually pretty fun. It was tiring at times, but I would definitely give it a go.

Peter: Like Savo said, it is definitely a lot of work, but the shows sound really amazing at the end. It is hours of work coming together, and you definitely feel a huge sense of pride in your collective achievement. Also, they give you lots of pizza.

Lastly, what was your favourite scene from the show?

Peter: The Bar Scene with Tevye and Lazar – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EMlwLk_h-M

Savo: If I Was a Rich Man – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHZFYpQ6nc

Hope you enjoyed that conversation with our Bolton stars. You can also find a link to the SMUS Photo Gallery, which contains lots of great shots from the dress rehearsal. Here are a few sneak peeks!

Although the musical took centre stage this past week, there were also lots of other activities going on around campus.

Inaki joined Mr. Bell for an intense (but fun!) spin class on Saturday morning…

… while a big group of Bolton students took part in the first few rugby exhibition games of the season.

On Friday, we had a group of 40 students hop on a ferry to watch the Vancouver 7s tournament at BC Place Stadium…

… and we were also treated to an amazing Chapel performance by a day student, Juliet.

We now look ahead to the homestretch of school before we finally get to enjoy Spring Break! We will leave you with two pieces of art created by our very own Bolton Penguins, Nokia and Lucas, that were displayed at the MacPherson Theatre during musical week.

This year’s school musical, Fiddler On the Roof, starts this weekend at McPherson Theatre. It is a highly anticipated performance, and the school was treated to a sneak peek at this week’s chapel.

Max was with the robotics team at another competition and they performed well enough to win.

The Senior Boys Basketball team hosted Lambrick Park in a game for City Championships. What a performance indeed as they cruised to a win in front of a very boisterous home crowd. Below, Leupold speeds past his defender on the way to a layup.

The grade 9 boys basketball team were also competing in the Island Championships and after three tight games the Blue Jags came out victorious and will be heading to the Provincial Championships next week. Declan was named Player of the Game for the first game!

Continuing with the theme of achievements, Peter and his team were named top team in the city at this weekend’s Math Challengers competition. Peter was also award an individual top 3 finish in the city!

Saturday Activities are part of the weekend routine for our junior students and this weekend had several fun options such as a spin class, a hike up nearby Mt. Tolmie, a beach walk, and a fun swim at the local pool.

Ernest was awarded the Bolton Pin for his consistent leadership and growth in the house! Well done Ernest!

This week, the Bolton Penguins turned back the clock to the warmer months when it was still socially (and physically!) acceptable to wear Hawaiian shirts and khaki shorts. We were treated to an impressive buffet dinner by the Graves Hall staff, and we were entertained by awesome trivia that Josh and Emily had prepared for us.

On Saturday, Mr. Bell and a huge Bolton-Timmis crew headed to the local rink to don their skates and get a few laps in on the ice. Our resident skating expert, Kenneth, continued to impress us with his silky-smooth skills and Theo took time to give Tommy a (literal) helping hand.

Our food expert Ian C recently started up a SMUS Food Club. As you can see from the photos, the members are flocking over to see what the hype is about! This past week, everyone (including a few houseparents as well!) was treated to a delicious stew in the common room.

This week was a special one for room cleans, with the return of the famous Timmis Trophy checks! There were some valiant efforts on each of the days, but in the end, the winners were: Mujtaba/ Ryan, Lucas/ Rentaro and Marc/ Harun!

On Sunday, we had the return of a classic house games lineup: floor hockey and Charades/ Pictionary! The Penguins battled hard and gained some valuable points for the House Cup race.

Lucas’ whiteboard art has to be among the finest in all of boarding…

Students gathered in the common room to watch the Chiefs sneak out a 3-point win over the Eagles in Sunday’s Superbowl match-up. Sources say that Rihanna’s half-time show was a solid 11 out of 10.

Here is a link to the amazing Large Ensembles Concert on February 8th that featured several Bolton Penguins…

… and a link to an article highlighting Max’s robotic team’s accomplishments at the recent competition at St. Margaret’s School!

https://www.smus.ca/news/building-momentum-smus-robotics-teams-earn-spots-provincial-competitions