Read more details about Bodwell High School on their 2026 profile page.
Reflections and Advice:
1.) What do you think makes your school unique relative to other boarding schools?
Here is the thing about Bodwell. It is on this hill in North Vancouver and the windows in the hallway face the water and I would stand there some mornings just looking at the boats instead of going to class. Not proud of that but it happened. Graduated January 2026, real early. Rotman Commerce is next. I have moved around a lot growing up, different countries, different schools, so walking into a place with a lot of internationals did not scare me. Some kids looked overwhelmed on their first day. I looked at the chaos and thought okay I know how to do this.
2.) What was the best thing that happened to you in boarding school?
The best thing that happened to me at Bodwell was the argument during capstone. Two of us wanted perfect. Two of us wanted done. We yelled at each other in the library. The librarian told us to leave. We went to the common room and yelled more. Then someone said something funny and we all laughed and then we worked until midnight and finished the project. I learned that conflict does not kill teams. Silence kills teams.
3.) What might you have done differently during your boarding school experience?
I should have taken more photos. Not of games. Of the hallway with the water view. Of the dining hall during lunch rush. Of my roommate eating cereal at midnight. I have almost nothing to remember the place by except a shaky video of a soccer game in the rain. Advice for someone new is this. The first person who talks to you, say yes to whatever they ask. Go to the common room. Join the badminton team. Eat the weird food. Just say yes.
4.) What did you like most about your school?
Bodwell was small and chaotic and full of people who did not know each other pretending they did. That sounds like a criticism but it is not. That is just what a school with a lot of nationalities looks like. I learned to work with anyone. That is the skill I am taking to Rotman. Not the 4.0. Not the award. The ability to sit at a table with strangers and figure it out.
5.) Do you have any final words of wisdom for visiting or incoming students to your school?
The window in the second floor hallway. The one facing the water. Stand there sometimes. The seabus is cheap and the ride is short. Take it on a weekend just to move. The soccer field is bumpy and the grass is long. Play anyway. And if someone invites you to something, go. Even if you are tired. Especially if you are tired.
Academics:
1.) Describe the academics at your school - what did you like most about it?
Perfect GPA. 4.0. I am telling you this not because I want a medal but because Rotman requires it and I am competitive and I do not like leaving things to chance. The capstone project nearly killed me. Group of four, all from different countries, all with different ideas about what good looks like. Two of us wanted to polish every sentence. Two of us wanted to hit submit and walk away. We fought. Then we figured it out. Won Best Capstone Award. The argument mattered more than the award.
Athletics:
1.) Describe the athletics at your school - what did you like most about it?
Soccer was mine. Not the school's but mine. The team was decent. Not great. But the guys showed up and that is half the battle. I played midfield because that is where the game happens. You have to defend and attack and talk the whole time. My lungs burned after every match. Good burn. The athletics coordinator job meant I could not play favorites. I had to schedule games for teams I did not care about. Basketball. Volleyball. Badminton. Learned to care anyway because that was the job.
Art, Music, and Theatre:
1.) Describe the arts program at your school - what did you like most about it?
I was behind the camera not on the stage. Filming games. Editing highlights. The theatre kids did their thing in the auditorium and I respected it from a distance. One show I went to was about immigration. People were crying. I was not crying but I was close. The talent show was better. International students doing dances from their countries. A kid from Brazil did capoeira. Nobody knew what it was but everyone cheered.
Extracurricular Opportunities:
1.) Describe the extracurriculars offered at your school - what did you like most about it?
The capstone project deserves its own paragraph. Four months. Four people. We met in the library after class, on weekends, late nights when nobody wanted to be there. The topic was business related. I will spare you the details. The point is we won and I learned that group work across cultures is harder than anyone admits. The LEAP program at U of T was online. Leadership stuff. I did it early because I was scared of showing up to university unprepared. Still scared honestly.
Dorm Life:
1.) Describe the dorm life in your school - what did you like most about it?
I shared a bathroom with three other guys. That is the first thing I tell people when they ask about boarding. Three guys. One bathroom. You learn to be fast in the shower. My roommate was from Japan. He woke up early. I woke up late. We never clashed because we were never awake at the same time. The common room had a TV that someone brought from home. We watched soccer games together. The dorm parents were there but not hovering. They knocked. We let them in. They left. That was the rhythm.
Dining:
1.) Describe the dining arrangements at your school.
The dining hall rotated through countries. Monday was something. Tuesday was something else. I stopped tracking. The Brazilian kids cheered when it was rice and beans. The Indian kids cheered when it was curry. The Mongolian kids never cheered because they never served what we eat at home. I got used to it. The best meal was after a win. Any win. Soccer, basketball, whatever. The food tasted better when we were tired.
Social and Town Life:
1.) Describe the school's town and surrounding area.
Lonsdale Quay is close. I took the seabus to downtown when I needed to remember that cities exist. North Vancouver is quiet. Too quiet sometimes. Grouse Mountain is right there. I went up once with friends. The view of the city at night is worth the ticket. Bodwell is on a hill so walking to class is uphill both ways. Not actually both ways but it felt like it.
2.) Describe the social life at your school - what did you like most about it?
It's small school, you cannot hide. I did not try. My friends were my teammates and my capstone group and the guys I shared a bathroom with. That was enough. The international mix meant I heard conversations in languages I did not understand. That was not noise to me. That was the point. I grew up moving around. Silence is what feels weird to me. Noise feels like home.
Read more details about Bodwell High School on their 2026 profile page.
Alumni Reviews Review School
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I finished at Bodwell this past April. Two years in North Vancouver, looking out at the water from a hill where you can see downtown and the mountains at the same time. Came from Brazil. . .
Here is the thing about Bodwell. It is on this hill in North Vancouver and the windows in the hallway face the water and I would stand there some mornings just looking at the boats. . .
The physical layout on the North Vancouver waterfront completely changes the daily mood compared to standard inland campuses. It adds a natural boundary to the school footprint while keeping the city accessible. Additionally, the sheer. . .
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