Joy Drop: Sports, academics clash with scholarship created by Raptors’ Chris Boucher

Hello friends! Another stellar week has passed and I want to share with you some wonderful and deeply joyful things.

Shout out to Chris Boucher of the Toronto Raptors who created a scholarship at Toronto Metropolitan University. he named it skinny duck Scholarship for students of Caribbean descent at the bridging the gaps program. It is a program that supports access to post-secondary education for adults and youth who have not experienced it. I am always excited by the collision of sports and academics.

The IIHF Women’s Hockey World Championships are underway in Brampton, Ontario! The tournament has not been held in Canada for a few years. It took place in Calgary in 2021 but was closed to spectators and most of the press. It is the first time since 2000 that it has been held in the Greater Toronto Area. And with the appropriate amount of fanfare and excitement.

Canada played their first match against Switzerland and won 4-0. We hope this will be a successful tournament for Canada, but anything can happen on the ice. This video about the tournament is a great look at women’s hockey and the vision of inclusion, success and legacy.

One of the advantages of having it hosted in Canada is that our own team can get families and the community to come and see it in person. One of the cutest viewers was Rory, Natalie Spooner’s young son. Spooner scored the first goal of the game with Rory in the stands. I love Mamas in the upper echelon of the competition. We know it takes a town and a hockey team too!

Another fantastic spectator who cheered on Team Canada was Sarah Nurse’s Gramma Marge. We’d love to see it. I found this photo on Nurse’s Instagram story and thought she was adorable. It’s a joy to see the families of our star players get to watch these women play.

The weather is getting more beautiful, and the call of spring means Sakura! Sakura is the Japanese term for cherry blossoms. BLOG FOR reported that cherry blossoms may bloom much earlier this year. All the rain and double-digit temperatures that GTA has been experiencing can certainly help this process.

Meanwhile, in Vancouver, the annual Cherry Blossom Festival has kicked off and runs from April 1-23. There are numerous intra-community artistic activities in the city that highlight the wonderful flowers. There are some cities where the cherry blossoms are a big attraction. A woman named Stephanie who is a blogger from Ontario writes This lady’s travel blog. She wrote a lovely post on exactly where to find Cherry blossoms in Canada.

One of the happiest things this week was the NCAA women’s basketball final and the victory of Louisiana State University. Within that victory is the incredible story of Flau’jae Johnson. She is multi-talented not only as an NCAA champion but also as a rapper. In fact, when LSU won the championship, they played their song. In excellent news, Lil Wayne will collaborate with this superstar on a musical project. The perfect way to cap off a historic victory for this player.

I hope you enjoy the long weekend with friends, family, and communities.

Happy Easter and Happy Easter to all who celebrate!