Author: Student Ambassador Page 13 of 43

Welcome back to another year at Canadian Mennonite University! Another year of studies, shenanigans, volleyball, and writing for the #myCMUlife blog (for me, anyways)! I’m so excited to share more stories with you all over the year. If you’d like to learn more about me, check out my “Meet the Blogger” post from last year (not much has changed, don’t worry)!

After a busy summer, it can feel hard to get back into the swing of things. But don’t worry, I’m here to help you get back to the basics: the alphabet!

I’ve created what I call The CMU Alphabet, a list of 26 facts and reminders about this beautiful university of ours. Some of them include links, so click on through for more information! Let’s get going…

A – Archives and Art

Did you know that our campus houses the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery and Mennonite Heritage Archives? Students are always welcome to peruse the gallery, and the archivists working in the centre can help you dig up some incredible history!

B – Blaurock Café

Calling all wannabe baristas! The Blaurock Café (fondly referred to as ‘The Blau’) is a student volunteer-run/non-profit café that can give you great work experience in a café setting! And you’ll meet tons of new friends and end every shift highly caffeinated.

C – CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre

Textbooks, school supplies, fair-trade giftware, Anabaptist resources, and CMU swag: CommonWord bookstore has it all! You’ll find the well-stocked shop inside Marpeck Commons!

D – Don’t Park Here!

If not here, then where? Check out this parking information to learn where you can park, and where you can’t!

E – Eat Healthy

It’s important to keep your brain AND body healthy while you’re at university. Pack healthy snacks for in between classes, or visit the cafeteria (the salad bar is THE BEST). You don’t have to be a residence student to buy a meal from the caf!

F – Forums

Every week you can engage in Student Forums held in the chapel on Wednesday at 11:30 AM. The topics are broad and always engaging!

G – Game Day!

Green and gold together! Cheer on your Blazers as they take to the field and court in basketball, volleyball, soccer, and futsal. Check out the game schedules here!

H – Home

Commuter students, make the Commuter Lounge your new home! There’s a fridge and microwave just for you, so take advantage of it. FYI, the Commuter Pancake Lunch is FREE and happens on September 4 from 12:00–1:00 PM at the Student Centre!

I – Internet

“Does anyone know the wifi password?” I DO! “Guest@CMU!” should get you connected on campus! Residence students can check their green cards for res-specific passwords.

J – Jam

Want to get your jam on? Join the band or choir! You’ll be surrounded by music-loving students such as yourself, and there are opportunities to travel and perform that trombone solo you’ve been practicing all summer!

K – Keep it in a locker!

If you’re a commuter student and need somewhere to store your books, there are lockers on North and South sides of the campus! Just sign up for a locker on the sign-up sheets provided beside each bank of lockers. Supply your own lock and remove it at the end of the year; easy!

L – Librarians

Librarians, best friends, is there a difference? You’re going to want to meet the lovely librarians and use their expertise to find books, print and photocopy papers, and check out camera and recording equipment! Also they sometimes have candy on their desk…

M – Mental Health

CMU offers students FREE counselling services! Sometimes it helps to have a trained professional to talk to, so don’t hesitate to reach out! More about that here.

N – New Friends

Fellowship groups offer a great opportunity to connect with students who have similar interests and goals! These groups are dreamed up by students, and run by them as well. Check out this year’s groups on Wednesday, September 4 at 11:30 AM in the Conference Room!

O – Orientation Guide

AKA A GUIDE TO FUN TIMES AND IMPORTANT REMINDERS! From free ice-cream floats to course change advising, this guide has everything you need for the first two weeks of school!

P – PAL (Peer Assisted Learning)

Don’t know where to start with assignments? Feeling stressed about school work? Come to M207 to get help from your resourceful peers. All undergraduate and graduate students welcome! Schedule TBA around mid-September, 2019!

Q – Quiet Spaces

If you’re searching for a quiet spot to study, you’ve got options! All CMU students have access to the private study rooms upstairs in Marpeck Commons, you just need to sign up and use your student card to enter. The library is also a designated quiet space, and the alcove lounges on the north side are comfy as well!

R – Recitals

Support your musical friends as they show off their talents at weekly recitals in the Laudamus Auditorium! Keep your eyes on the CMU Daily email for a list of who’s performing and when!

S – Snack

RESIDENCE STUDENTS REJOICE! We all know that snack time is the best time, and you can enjoy an evening treat and fellowship every night in the cafeteria.

T – Thursday Workouts

Come get your exercise on in the Loewen Athletic Centre every Thursday! These 45-minute free guided workouts are an easy way to stay fit and learn about healthy living on a weekly basis among friends!

U – Unscented

CMU is a scent-free campus, which means you should be focusing on the “unscented” section of your body-grooming products. One simple change can help your “scent-sitive” friends immensely.

V – Volunteering

Student groups are a great way to get involved in the community and do some good! Check out the Student Group Carnival on September 3 from 3:00–5:00 PM on the South Lawn.

W – Wednesday Night Worship

Join your friends and classmates for Worship Nights every Wednesday evening at 9:30 PM. It’s a focused time for prayer and worship and singing!

X – Xerox

… is the name of a printer company (it’s a stretch, I know, but not many words start with X). You can print for FREE using campus printers, as long as you supply your own paper! Regular printer paper is perfect!

Y – YUM!

Treat yo self at folio café in Marpeck Commons! They make delicious coffee and espresso beverages and teas, and serve up delicious gelato, soups and sandwiches, fancy toast, and baking from local bakeries (did someone say Oh Doughnuts?).

Z – Zzzs

A well-rested mind and body is a healthy mind and body. It can be tempting to try and cram more studying into the late hours of the night, but believe me, you’ll be much more productive and happy if you get enough sleep!

Chloe Friesen, 3rd-year Communications and Media student

It was day two of orientation for Mennonite Central Committee’s Serving and Learning Together (SALT) program. We were learning about managing our expectations, something that I learned at CMU but still hadn’t fully come to internalize. Looking down at my last remaining goal, I couldn’t help but smile at the seemingly simple, unimpressive, and unimportant goal that I had left— smile at one person a day.

I lived in a studio apartment by myself. It was at the far end of a courtyard inside the school gates of Chuyen Hung Vuong, the school where my SALT friend Eva taught. Every day an old man would do laps around my courtyard. We would occasionally cross paths and I decided that I was going to try to smile at him every day. So when we crossed paths I would look up into his weathered and wise face, give my best Natasha smile, a bit of a head nod, a mumbled “xin chao” (hello) and keep walking. But instead of smiling back at my over-eager face, he would nod his head a bit, and continue biking on. He would do laps for an hour or so and then disappear only to return the next day, where we would do the same thing. I’d smile at him, he’d nod his head and keep pedaling on. This happened day in and day out. Throughout the seasons, my good days and bad days my biker friend (as I have come to call him) would bike, I would smile and we would go our separate ways.

Many times this year I have felt like my biker friend, continuously going in circles, not really getting anywhere or feeling ‘successful’ as I had come to understand that word. I didn’t get a participation mark for every day that I sat in the staff room surrounded by a spoken language that I did not understand. I didn’t get a grade for noticing that the architecture was different, or for how many people would stare at me for a myriad of reasons as I walked down my street. I most definitely did not get a grade for every time that I would reach for something with my chopsticks only for the food to splash in my bowl and stain yet another of my shirts.

This year I have come to see the meaning of success not only through an academic lens, but also through the lens of my biker friend. He showed me that success means showing up and being present. It means becoming part of someone’s fabric, routine, and life. It means acknowledging the anxiety and laughter, the homesickness and joy, the constant embarrassment and grace, and continuing to persevere. It means noticing the unspoken languages of love, courage, and hope amidst the spoken language of Vietnamese.

Two weeks before I left Viet Tri, I made my way back to my room bleary eyed, in desperate need of a nap. I had stayed up late lesson planning the day before, not so uncommon to my late nights of studying, and had two hours before I taught again. Through my narrowed eyes I saw my biker friend doing his laps and approaching me. I didn’t want to smile at him. I was tired, and he hadn’t smiled back at me for the last nine months, so I didn’t have much hope that today would be the day. But a goal was a goal, so I opened my eyes wide, gave my best tired Natasha smile, and was shocked when instead of seeing a weathered face, I saw eyes that twinkled, lips that twitched into a smile, and a hand that was raised and waving at me.

Like my time at CMU, this past year has given me another perspective and lens through which to look at the world. I have come to act on the lessons that I learned through classes, conversations and friends. I have come to learn that the biggest challenge we face wherever we are is to show up, be present, and to keep smiling every day.

As a Communications and Media student, I spend a lot of time looking very carefully at the news. I listen to the radio, read the newspaper, and probably spend a little too much time on social media.

It’s what I love to do, but if you, like me, spend too much time reading the headlines, you know the accompanying feeling of hopelessness that can come along with it.

Gun violence, famine, and borders. Death, disease, and destruction. It’s enough to make one want to throw their TV out the window, lock the doors, and draw the blinds.

But there’s a quote by the one and only Mr. Fred Rogers, of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, that I like to remember when I feel this way, and it goes like this:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping’.”

I was walking around campus after class, and I came to realization that Canadian Mennonite University is a school that is equipping its students to become helpers.

My friends in the science faculty will be the helpers fighting climate change and sickness.

Our English majors will one day write the books and poems that inspire us to go on and look for beauty in this world.

I cross paths with the counsellors and music therapists of the future, and play volleyball with the business leaders of tomorrow who are learning how to run a business that creates profit while respecting people and the planet.

I hear the beautiful music throughout the halls that comes from my friends that have chosen to live their lives making a joyful noise, and I rub shoulders in the cafeteria with people who will one day become the pastors of our churches.

I meet students who create their very own interdisciplinary degrees, who will do some job that doesn’t even exist quite yet, but it’s a job that’ll need to be done.

Our professors and faculty, who read the same headlines that I do, see us as helpers as well, whether they’ve watched Mister Rogers Neighborhood or not. They’re not scared. They have hope.

If they didn’t have hope for a brighter future ahead and better headlines in the news, they wouldn’t be here, sharing their knowledge and experiences with their students. They wouldn’t share their testimonies in chapel, invite students into their offices for meaningful conversations, or care so much about their jobs.

And they care so much.

And you, dear donors, you see hope for the future as well. You’re investing in the next generation of helpers you’ll see in the news. And we are so grateful for all the opportunities that your donations give us that help us to become better helpers.

And me? I’ve decided that I’ll be the one writing the headlines of the future. Holding that camera. Doing that interview. Telling you the stories of the helpers that you invested and believed in. Sharing that hope that I feel every-day that I’m at this school. Becoming a helper in my own unique way.

Looking at the world around us, it can sometimes be hard to see the helpers. 

But if you take a look at CMU, you’ll see them everywhere. And that gives me hope.

– Chloe Friesen, 2nd year Communications and Media student