Grebel sings to bridge gaps and build community
At the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, students, staff and faculty at Conrad Grebel University College took a deep breath and sang together, first in unison, and then in several different parts to build a new melody. The piece called “We All Sing” was written by Karen Sunabacka, a Grebel prof, and commissioned for…
Students gain out-of-school experience
This past spring, students from Rockway Mennonite Collegiate’s Grade 8 class began participating in a new project whose goal is to build character, skills and perspective; and to create opportunity for students to serve our larger community. The students, led by science teacher Gail Snyder, extended their classroom learning by working alongside adults with intellectual…
Canadian schools show slight student increases
Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, Ont. This September, more than 260 post-secondary school students made their way to Conrad Grebel University College on the University of Waterloo campus. Arriving from across Canada (primarily Ontario), the United States, and internationally from Indonesia, India, Sudan, Vietnam and China, these students bring much energy, ambition and excitement to…
New website locates EMU alumni businesses, internship opportunities
Royal Connections, a new feature launching on the Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) website, showcases alumni-owned or -managed businesses all over the world, and helps students, parents and graduates find and connect with them. Do you live in Winnipeg, and need a mediation or conflict management specialist who loves EMU as much as you do? No…
Peace is everyone’s business
The political scientist Harold Lasswell once defined politics to be “who gets what, when and how.” If that is politics, peace studies in contrast can be seen as an attempt to answer the question “why” things are given to whom, when and how. While peace studies is concerned about the political challenge of stopping people…
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…
