We were hit with out first real bout of summer weather this week. Classes started happening outside, as you can see with Gedeon and Harry enjoying a business lesson. Many Bolton boys participated in the Link Leader water-balloon contest. Below you can see Matthias, Adrian and Patt playing. Patt actually emerged the victor of the whole tournament and a great time was had by all.

This lasted all week but sadly this weekend the rain returned. During Saturday activities Justin and Jack braved the storm with a brisk hike along the sea shore. Nokia more sensibly painted pottery indoors. An even bigger group of boys signed up to watch the new Avengers movie and were positively energized on the drive home.

It was a rare quite week as we head into the last full month of classes. Some students are enjoying the calm before the academic storm. Others are already studying for upcoming exams. In all spirits are high and we are ready for the final push. Go Bo!

Last year during the school production of Ragtime, the stage was seemingly overrun by Bolton boys. Will, Joel, Christian, David and Bolu were amazing and dedicated and we thought that it was good luck there there were so many members of the house to applaud.

It turns out this is now a bit of a trend! Will and Joel have returned to the stage joined by Laurent, Garry and Matthias, all with speaking roles, and  Jerry joined the pit orchestra too. The show was super entertaining  and we were so impressed by the dedication, hard work and talent and humour we saw in all the performers. The big question remains – what makes Bolton so musical?

If you are interested in reading Will’s take on the musical, check out this article on the SMUSpaper.

The musical’s run is over now but earlier this week, as the cast was in dress rehearsal, the Senior Art Show opened. Alan, Antonio, Bryan, David, Jom, Ranon, Stanley, Tuan, Tung, Vincent, Turay, Mohammed, Nemesio, Gedeon, Jack, Mikhail, Matthias, Joel, Justin, Andres, Dionisio and Georg all had art in the show. The opening was a hit with 125 people in attendance and many more saw their art during the intermission of the musical.

As all this was going on there were many other activities on campus. Some got their heart rate up in spin class. Some explored downtown, looking for the tastiest dessert. While others gave up some free time to volunteer cleaning campus and organizing the art room.

Enjoy Spring Break! We will see everyone back soon!

The past week was very busy and very convoluted but rich with experience and very rewarding for the Bolton boys.

On Tuesday Grade 9 participated in their CHEW activities and the Grade 10s had of day of experiential learning. Activities ranged from flying to skiing to cooking. Here is Dat learning to cook.

At the same time the Grade 11 and 12s participated in our annual Career Day. Students had the choice of several workshops with adult members of the SMUS community. Workshops ranged from law to science to the arts. Here are Jom, Tung, Antonio, Bryan and Joel listening to presentations from a visual artist, an animator and and architect.

On Wednesday many students were busy all morning in rehearsals for the Large Ensembles Concert. The grade 10s, meanwhile had to write the Provincially mandated Numeracy exam. At the same time a group of keen photographers went to a lecture by a National Geographic photographer, Ami Vitale.  Below you can see Georg and Dat meeting her after the talk. If that was not enough, SMUS hosted the First Tech Challenge (below you can see Antonio doing his part for the SMUS team).

That night was the actual Large Ensembles Concert. The strings, choir and band sections wowed the crowd with their performances.  Bellow you will find Dat, Xavier, Patt, Pine, Turay, Jack, Harry, Garry, Adam W, Mr. Butterfield and Logan.

The rest of the week was similarly full of activities. The musical boys kept practicing (note Laurent, Garry and Matthias on the balcony) and Justin and Matthias kept playing Basketball. Mohammed presented as part of Middle Eastern Week and Xavier worked on his chemistry.

Other students had yet another field trip, this time with Mr. Shaw to the aquarium. Below you can see Adam W inspecting a Puget Sound King Crab.

Saturday Activities kept everyone very busy today. See photos of Dio helping to clean Mt Tolmie, Tommy, Adam L and Alejandro helping with service work in a school garden, Leo and Hemmesh on a photography trip, Alan life drawing (and modeling!), and Tung and Henry volunteering at a local hockey game.

Matthias played yet more Basketball and posted a great victory. Here he is with Mr. Hyde-Lay and in action.

In all it was a crazy week but very rewarding. Tomorrow students start studying in earnest for a week of mid-term exams. But we will save that story for next weekend.

We just keep finding more and more fun things to share witrh you as we close 2017! First, here are the Photo Booth photos, taken by David and his Photo Club. It is clear the students had a great time dressing up and hamming up!

Similar frivolity happened during the whole-school Christmas Assembly.

The students also enjoyed being served by the faculty during the annual Shergold Pancake Breakfast, a fun event in memory of Chuck and Stephanie Shergold. This is especially close to our hearts in Bolton as Chuck was the Senior Houseparent in Bolton when he and his daughter passed away. They are further remembered by the new Bolton Award for Strength. His wife, Wendy went on to lead Bolton House for many years. We celebrate them with laughter and love, the way they lived their lives.

And in the holiday spirit, we also contributed to make things nicer for those less fortunate. Here is Gedeon carrying some hamper gifts to give to a single-parent family in our neighborhood.

Happy Holidays!

This is just a little extra post that shows some of the great energy that we have in the Bolton Timmis Common Room. For the students it is like their own living room, except it is full of their friends, has a pool table, and a kitchen and karaoke.

Thanks to our Head of House Ranon who filmed the magic.

Winter weather may be blowing in but the campus is heating up as we slide towards the Holiday Break. The Grade 10s recently had their second round of experiential activities. Below you can see Jack leading a beat for his group, all of whom built their own Cajon box drums. This performance was in the Senior School assembly. Click here to hear their music and see them play. Also below you will see some of Dio, Andres and other Bolton Boys preparing their ornament to contribute to the Bolton Christmas Tree. This tree was then on display at the SMUS Christmas Gala (more on that later). Finally, on the heals of an amazing Bolton House Chapel, many boys returned to chapel during the day to present for Intercultural Council’s North American cultural week. Below you can see Joel, Will, Jack and Matthias adding their own personal touches to the event.

Last week Bolton’s own Mr. Butterfield (in addition to the other music teachers) conducted the annual Small Ensembles Concert. Below you can see Dat, Logan, Jack and Laurent adding their musical talents to the evening.

The big event everyone was getting ready for was the Parent’s Auxiliary Christmas Gala, held in the stunning and historic Crystal Gardens in downtown Victoria. The past weeks have been frenzy of shopping trips in preparation for this formal affair. On Thursday, our Head of House Ranon, led the boys through some dinner etiquette. With brave Fernanda joining the meeting from Timmis House, both she and Dio enacted proper dinner manners and how to hold civilized conversation. Laughs were had and life lessons were learned. Some other basic life lesson came up in preparation for the big night. Dio honed his ironing skills, Logan learned how to replace a button and Adrian learned that it is easier to iron a tie before you put it on!

With the boys and girls in their finest, we all headed off to the big event. There was an amazing dinner, dancing, and overall a lot of fun.

Justin arrived a little late to the party, but with a big smile on his face. He was held back because his basketball team was in a tournament – but arrived victorious after running the tournament undefeated and taking the gold medal!

David set up and manned the photo booth for the event and will be soon posting images from that where you should be able to see your son in his finest with his friends. Stay tuned!

On Sunday we were all able to relax a bit. We closed the weekend enjoying an excellent chapel hosted by Timmis, our sister house.