Bauluck Runs Away With Athletic Scholarship

Dreams are what you make of them. Some can seem to be distant.

And for some news of them can stretch thousands of kilometres away to places most people in Moose Jaw have never heard about.

For Vanier Collegiate’s Wayne Bauluck those dreams are shared not just with family here but also to a place just under 16,000 kilometers away.

Back to family and friends in the place he was born the tiny island nation of Mauritius.

“It feels great,” he said speaking to MJ Independent about the scholarship based he earned through hard work and determination.

Bauluck has been awarded an athletic scholarship with the Lethbridge College Kodiak as an indoor track sprinter. He heads to Lethbridge this coming September.

Bauluck came with his family to Canada from Mauritius when he was about six years old.

The family first settled in Humboldt before his father received a job offer in Moose Jaw as a welder. The family liked Moose Jaw and decided to remain here.

“Moose Jaw seemed to be a lot more lively. A lot more going for it. So we decided to stay here and give it a chance and we have been here ever since,” he said about his family’s decision to remain here.

Although there are millions of immigrants living in Canada the thing that makes Bauluck’s receiving a scholarship is where he is originally from.

Originally from the small community of Poste de Flacq, Mauritius (population 9,000) Bauluck is the first person in his family to advance to higher learning.

“It’s great coming from my background and where I’m from it is something rare.”

It is something that makes his parents and his family proud.

“I know they (my parents) are very proud about it. They keep talking to people back home about it. I’m the first of my family to receive something like this and to them it is probably huge. I know they keep talking about it.”

It’s something he says his parents talk about to friends and family back in Mauritius.

Wayne Bauluck was two thumbs up after running the 100 meters dash at the recent city high school track championships

Bauluck came to Canada from a country where the climate could be described as tropical maritime with only two seasons - summer and winter. An island nation with an economy highly reliant on agriculture, exports and tourism.

Asked what community he lived he said he couldn’t remember having to ask his parents as it “has been so long since I’ve been there.”

As a child in Moose Jaw he attended elementary school at Sacred Heart School and started running there.

“I like running because I have to challenge myself. I have to work for it. It’s not like I’m being handed anything,” he said describing his motivation for the sport.

“It’s working and working and I can see I’m improving. And you are around people who want the same thing so it’s just something that is great to have and do.”

Bauluck said he initially started running cross country in grade seven but later moved to shorter distance sprints.

“I’ve always loved running. When I came over to Vanier sadly I had COVID in grade nine and couldn’t do any running. Once grade ten came and the restrictions starting leaving I thought about getting back into running.”

“I thought initially I was good at long distances but yeah I changed.”

Bauluck said he decided to give track a chance and then he received a scholarship he never expected.

His scholarship is for indoor track which has its differences from its outdoor cousin.

Coaching has come from Levi Broda a teacher at Vanier Collegiate.

Bauluck said he is looking forward to the move to Lethbridge where he will use his scholarship to attain a two year diploma in criminal justice.

“I think it is something new. I haven’t really been there a lot. So it is exciting but at the same time it is going to be a challenge getting use to everything and figuring (out) where everything is,” he said.

“I think that is going to be great. You know everything shifts - your relationships, your friendships and your connections . It’s life.”