It seems hard to believe, but we are down to our final week of school for the 2016-2017 school year. Classes finished yesterday, exams will be done on Wednesday, closing ceremonies are on Friday and the graduation gala for our amazing group of grade 12 boys is Saturday night. Where did the year go!?
This is a stressful and emotional time for many boarders as they prepare to say goodbye to friends from all over the world. Some are leaving for the summer and will be back in September while others are saying goodbye for good as they return home or head off to new adventures in the post secondary world. There are many opportunities to say goodbye and they are always lots of fun. This past weekend we had our annual Bolton/Timmis BBQ on the field, complete with slip and slide, volleyball and delicious food.
Here are the current leaders of the house, Philippe and Christian with next year’s Head of House Ranon and House Prefect Matthias.
Little did the the incumbents know that this was all just a ploy to set them up for a celebratory ice bucket for winning the House Cup!
Here are some clips from the slip and slide including the Bolton Penguin run! Check out the skills of Fernando as he surfs down on his feet!
Christian also had a chance to say goodbye to the school at the final assembly. Mr. Daum gets a shot with the Blue Jag (actually Joel) as the many accolades for the various sports teams were announced.
The grade 8 boys had a final party with Mrs. Doland and Mr. Lilly, and as you can see from the photo of roommates Pine and Diego hugging, the bonds that are made in Bolton House will last the boys a lifetime.
The grade 10 boys were involved in their final experiential expedition that went throughout the week. Here is Diego working on a project to get an electric scooter to run along the train track between Victoria and the north island and may be a new way to get around the island! And Mikhail and Stanley learning to be baristas and roasting their own School Grounds coffee.
The Middle School French students hosted a fund raiser for the ibellieve Foundation by selling delicious home made food while speaking seulement en Francais! Xavier and Adam were proud vendors, and as you can see from the panorama shot, it was quite the event attracting staff and students from both the Senior and Middle schools!
This Friday was also the annual Grad BBQ where the whole grade 12 class has an opportunity to hang out on the field and have fun as a class one last time before the seriousness of formal graduation ceremonies.
On Saturday, Ranon, David A, Henry and Jeronimo participated in the Discovery Cup against 8 other teams at Royal Victoria Yacht Club. The SMUS 1 team came 4th while the SMUS 2 team ran out clear winners over 2nd place Oak Bay and GNS. This means SMUS has now won the trophy 3 years running and are Lower Vancouver Island High School champions again!
And finally, in Leavers’ Chapel, a special event for our Grade 12s, our own Timmis and Bolton house parents, Ms. Knight & Mr. Colistro, gave an excellent speech with the theme of “Onward & Upward!”from the movie “Up”. It featured photos from their own high school and college graduations as well as adorable pics of them as children! They shared stories of the adventures that lead them here to SMUS, with the message that life may happen to you … but you must also make life happen!
