July 9th, 2015

The Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games officially starts tomorrow, and what better way to celebrate than to show our ongoing support and excitement for three WRDSB alumni!

Mandy Bujold, a boxer and graduate from Forest Heights Collegiate Institute, will be joining Team Canada and competing in her second Pan Am Games, trying to defend her 2011 Pan Am Games title. The 2011 Pan Am Games was the first time women’s boxing was added as an event, and she captured its first ever gold! Recently, Bujold was one of the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games ambassadors and a torchbearer during Kitchener’s torch relay leg. She ended Day 19 by lighting the Pan Am cauldron in Carl Zehr Square and helped kick off the City of Kitchener celebrations.

Brienne Stairs, a Forest Heights CI grad, and Amanda Woodcroft, a Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School grad, are joining the Canadian national field hockey team.

Stairs is no stranger to the Pan Am Games – she was among the top three scorers at the 2011 Pan Am Games with six goals. She also helped the University of Guelph win three Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships, and a silver and bronze Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) medals.

For Woodcroft, this will be her first Pan Am Games experience! This CIS player of the year plays for the University of Toronto – she was voted an OUA all-star in all four of her university playing years and is now a three-time all-Canadian. She tried field hockey for the first time in senior elementary gym class and loved it so much she started playing competitively in high school.

We wish all of our alumni all the best. Our WRDSB community will be cheering you on as each of you compete your way to Pan Am gold – good luck!

 

Mandy Bujold lights Kitchener's Pan Am cauldron.

Mandy Bujold lights Kitchener’s Pan Am cauldron.

 

Good luck, Mandy!

Good luck, Mandy!