September 2026 marks St. Michaels University School’s 120th year of being a boarding school. This year, 114 new boarding students arrived on campus ready to begin a new chapter. For three families, that arrival was also a homecoming.
Former boarding students Tom Wang and Alfredo Bejos, both from the Class of 1999, and Jorge Hammeken Arana, who spent his Grade 10 year at SMUS, returned to SMUS as parents, helping their children settle into a community of approximately 240 boarding students representing more than 25 countries.
A New Generation of Boarders
Tom returned with his son Henry, a new Grade 10 student from Vancouver, excited for the range of experiences ahead of him.
“We are so proud of Henry and know he will do well at this school, with so many options and activities he can try,” Tom said. “It will be fun for him and all the friends he will meet here.”
Alfredo travelled from Mexico with his daughter, Alessandra, who is beginning Grade 9.
“We are very excited and happy that she will now experience what we experienced here 28 years ago,” he said. “We know this will be an exciting year for her.”
Jorge, also from Mexico, boarded at SMUS while attending Grade 10 in 1994-95. This week he returned with his daughter Isabella as she begins Grade 12.
“I hope she will have the same experience I had 32 years ago,” he said, “and that she will take advantage of the opportunity to be in this beautiful place and on this beautiful campus.”
Much has changed since Tom, Alfredo and Jorge were students, but their hopes for their children remain closely connected to their own boarding experiences: friendships, independence, new opportunities and a community that reaches well beyond Victoria.
Beginning Their Own Stories
Those same hopes were shared by families arriving at SMUS for the first time. Among them were Jennifer Muscatel and her daughter, Joeli McLeod, a Grade 9 student who earned a year at SMUS through the Best School Year Ever contest. Joeli heard about the opportunity on Spotify, completed the application herself and, one year later, arrived from Bellevue, Washington to begin her boarding experience.
“We are very close, but I am excited for her to have this adventure, become more independent and have opportunities to challenge herself,” Jennifer said. “This school is such a phenomenal place. Her room was spacious and gorgeous. Everyone we have met so far has been so nice to us and we are really excited for her.”
Over two days of New Boarder Orientation, students and families met the people who will support them, explored the campus and moved into the boarding houses. The experience concluded with dinner outdoors in the Quad, followed by bittersweet farewells filled with hugs and tears.
For 114 students, it was the beginning of their own SMUS boarding story. For the alumni returning with their children, it was a reminder that the connections formed here can stretch across decades—and sometimes lead all the way back to where they began.
