Police officers and Pan Am Games officials escorted torch-bearing Kyle Rose on to campus on Saturday.

It was a warm reception all right. In fact it was downright hot.

Under a blazing noon hour sun on Saturday 20 June, a beaming Kyle Rose — president of the Brock University Students’ Union — was accompanied by a police escort as he carried the 2015 Pan Am Games torch on to campus and to a cheering welcome party in front of Schmon Tower.

Niagara Region Chair Alan Caslin greets athlete Kyle Whitehouse, while Boomer the Badger, Brock President Jack Lightstone and BUSU president Kyle Rose look on.

Nearly a month after starting its journey in Mexico, the Pan Am Torch Relay was making its way through Niagara, enroute to its final destination, the Pan Am Games opening ceremonies in Toronto on July 10.

Rose ran the leg of the relay which delivered the torch to Brock and the welcoming committee waiting at the landmark statue of Sir Isaac Brock. But the entourage couldn’t stay for long.

After a few minutes of goodwill greetings from University President Jack Lightstone and Niagara Region Chair Alan Caslin, the torch was handed off from Rose to Pan Am athlete Kyle Whitehouse, who trotted off leading the relay team toward its next stop, a reception at Market Square in downtown St. Catharines.