Getting passionate about the bible
Sunday school has been approached differently by different people. At times, the church has taken a defensive posture: It’s scary out there and we’re going to shelter you and teach you what’s right so you can stand fast. In this approach, the goal is to present answers, remove ambiguity and convince others to think along the same…
Fifty years of listening to poets
A new book celebrates the work of one of the foremost scholars of Mennonite literature. On Mennonite/s Writing: Selected Essays is the first collection of work by Hildi Froese Tiessen, professor emerita of English and peace and conflict studies at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo. Edited by Robert Zacharias and published last December by…
Grebel at 60
In the fall of 1963, J. Winfield Fretz began his role as the first president of Conrad Grebel College in Waterloo, Ontario. In addition to hiring the first employees and spearheading a $750,000 building project, he taught courses in the sociology department at the University of Waterloo. The beginnings of this educational initiative by Ontario…
Growing in the right direction: Grebel’s pollinator garden
On a bright morning in April, Eva Booker and a team of student volunteers rolled out a 25-foot-wide tarp across Grebel’s front lawn in preparation for the College’s recent green initiative: a pollinator garden. “The garden now contains fifteen different native flowering plants and grasses divided into eighteen sections of the round garden,” explained Eva…
Tim Khoo’s experience at Grebel leads to baptism
When Timothy Khoo was choosing a university, he looked for something that stood out. “I kept hearing about this Mennonite residence from my family and church community, and it piqued my interest,” he said. Khoo is now a second-year Honours Physics student at the University of Waterloo and a returning upper-year student at Conrad Grebel…
Grebel grandma
While cousins Adam and Owen Roth had grown to “love the Grebel community,” as first-year students at Conrad Grebel University College, one crucial thing was missing from their new lifestyle: supper at Grandma’s. “Before we came to Grebel, Owen and I would eat meals at Grandma Leola Roth’s house every week,” said Adam. “When we…
Grebel alumni change the world with tech
Like many Conrad Grebel University College alumni, Dale Brubacher-Cressman considers it important to make an impact on the causes he stands for. “My upbringing in the Mennonite church, extended into university life at Grebel, fostered in me a sense of responsibility and desire to make the world a better place.” Brubacher-Cressman graduated with a degree…
Grebel launches new strategic plan
Marcus Shantz, Conrad Grebel University College’s president, provided an overview of Grebel’s new strategic plan during the school’s annual general meeting on Oct 4. Entitled “Renewing an inspired community,” Shantz said, “The main hope our stakeholders expressed was for Grebel to thrive in the future. No one advised us to radically change our identity, our…
Grebel’s community gathers for the new term
The air was buzzing at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo on Sept. 3, as new students moved into the residence, accompanied by their parents and welcomed by enthusiastic upper-year students. The energy that comes with starting something new continued all week and was evident across the entire University of Waterloo campus, with groups of…
Winter lectures address global social concerns
Coming in March, Conrad Grebel University College is hosting two distinct winter lectures, offered by Sofia Samatar and Regina Shands-Stoltzfus. The presentations are focused on addressing global social concerns and raising awareness about oppression. “We are eagerly anticipating the 2022 Bechtel and Sawatsky lectures,” said Troy Osborne, dean at Conrad Grebel. “They will be excellent…
