Family celebrates permanent residency
The Warkentins are ringing in 2018 as official Canadians, but the journey to reach permanent-resident status was anything but easy. Jon and Karissa Warkentin and their five children, who attend Nordheim Mennonite Church in Winnipegosis, Man., received the announcement they could stay in Canada on Dec. 5, 2017. It came after a long struggle with…
Grad takes the helm of his alma mater
Marcus Shantz laughs when it’s noted that the previous seven presidents of Conrad Grebel University College have all been pastors or academics, or both. “I guess the board sees that it takes a broad skill set to be the president,” he says. Shantz was most recently the president of the Mercedes Corporation, a property development…
A child’s world in the palm of their parents’ hands
When most parents send their elementary-and middle-school-aged children off to school, they rely on school websites and notes in their children’s backpack to keep them informed. But one Winnipeg school has changed all that. Now, Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary & Middle Schools (WMEMS) parents can download a school app to stay in the loop with their…
Drawing students ‘in’
In “Outwitted,” poet Edwin Markham writes: “He drew a circle that shut me out— / Heretic, a rebel, a thing to flout. / But love and I had the wit to win: / We drew a circle that took him in!” Early last December, the city of Winnipeg served an important role as textbook and…
Building bridges
In 1977, an academic concentration in Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) was formally introduced at the University of Waterloo, launched by Conrad Grebel College, now Conrad Grebel University College. It was the first undergraduate peace studies program at a Canadian university. That same year, the student-run Peace Society was created at Grebel, giving residence students…
Teaching in a flipped classroom
Chani Wiens, UMEI’s academic math teacher since 2009, has introduced a new style of teaching to the school: the flipped classroom. “I started to research classroom flipping when I became frustrated that, even in a small classroom, I wasn’t meeting the needs of each student as much as I wanted to,” she explains. “I felt…
Rockway adds business courses to curriculum
It was with great excitement that Rockway Mennonite Collegiate in Kitchener, Ont., launched a new business program last fall. Our new courses in business leadership and international business are designed to expose our students to important business ideas and invite them to consider them through a Christian lens. It has been both exciting and a…
‘I do believe in prayer because I believe in poetry’
Sarah Ens’s writing career started at the age of six with a story suspiciously similar to the children’s book, Julie and the Wolves. But since those early days, she has grown into an award-winning poet. Earlier this month, she won an honourable mention and $150 in a competition for the Young Buck Poetry Prize, a…
Many Voices, One Song
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, a Vancouver congregation produced a documentary featuring its church. Many Voices, One Song: The Story of Point Grey Inter-Mennonite Fellowship is a 27-minute video telling both the history of Point Grey and how it contributes to and enriches the faith of its members. The church is distinctive in that it…
In the beginning
Last November, the United Mennonite Church of Black Creek launched a new book, In the Beginning—Stories of our Founders, during an evening of speakers, images and history. In the 1930s, several groups of Mennonite settlers emigrated from Russia and Ukraine, and from other communities in Canada and the United States, to Black Creek. Some of…
