The senior rugby team was on show this week with an important league game versus Claremont. They were ‘wishing’ for a win after a few defeats to start the season. Losing several players to injury has made it difficult to find continuity with players constantly moving around to fill in different positions. They knew they would be in tough against an enthusiastic Claremont side and were down for nearly the entire game, that is until the last 10 minutes when the rally began. With two quick tries they found themselves down by three points with only a couple minutes left. Quick darting runs by Bolton’s Adam Liu helped get SMUS within striking distance of the goal line and eventually they put in a try with zero time left on the clock. It was a thrilling comeback and a great first win of the season for the team. Their ‘wish’ had come true.

The half time speech that seemed to fire them up for a much inproved second half performance

The wild west coast is not known for its warmth and sunny skies. Vancouver Island’s west coast is commonly labelled as the graveyard of the pacific and the Juan de Fuca trail’s rugged coastline and stormy wet weather is often sought by hikers wanting to get a true west coast experience. Harun and LeRoy were among a group of SMUS students braving the elemets and ‘wishing’ for bright skies and calm seas for the 40 km hike. One wish there was no point in asking for would be a dry trail, as that is just not a possibility on the “Wet” Coast! They certainly got what they ‘wished’ from the weather and managed to capture an amazing sunset as well.

Mr. Danskin ran a Saturday activity this weekend that was a walking food tour of some of his favourite spots. Rentaro, Lucas, Wataru and Kenneth were the Bolton students who came along for the journey and it was a lovely little outing. With ten people in the group and mostly small resaurants, they were all ‘wishing’ for a chance to find seating. The first stop was La Taqueria where they each sampled a taco of their choice. The tacos were eaten so fast there wasn’t even time to get a picture of everyone with their food!

Next we ventured down to China Town and on the way managed to take in an anti-COVID mandates protest. A few students were a little surprised by the potest given the relative extent of restrictions and expectations in many other parts of the world.

We arrived at Bao and managed to find seats for all of us – another ‘wish’ fullfilled! The blossoms were in full effect and the bao buns were a hit. We were left wanting to come back again to sample more of the different kinds of bao buns available on the menu.

Next stop was Dumpling Drop for a round of Pork Belly dumplings that are always a hit. They were so good, everyone ‘wished’ for more dumplings and there was actually a mistake which resulted in the group getting one extra dish of dumplings!

With one location left and a dessert stop at that, the crew was excited to top things off with some ice cream from Chocolate Favoris. Seeing as it is right in the hub of downtown excitement, they were wishing for the line to be small and once again lucked out. Just after they arrived, there was a line out the door! They also ‘wished’ to find more space in their stomachs for the chocolate dipped icecream and thankfully they all managed 🙂

While every location was wonderful, after a vote for the favourite, Bao was the overall winner!

The final ‘wish’ was made by Teigan who ‘wished’ for everyone to sing him happy birthday; perhaps he should’ve included a specific quality level with that wish!