Author: Student Ambassador Page 9 of 41

My last Christmas at CMU | Guest blogger Emily Hiebert

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On December 19, 2019

In 2019-20

As I took the stage for my final performance at Christmas at CMU, I wasn’t sure if it was all real. Who would have known that five years after starting at CMU I would still be in choirs even though I was not a music student? I guess singing has always been a part of who I am and how I wanted to spend my every day.

Emily Hiebert (centre) with her choir friends graduating in 2020, at their last Christmas at CMU concert.

Singing in choir and, to be honest, everything about my time at CMU has seemed really natural. It hasn’t been dull or unengaging, but natural in the way that I know CMU was where I was supposed to be. I stayed in choir for all five years of my degree because, even though I am not a music student, I found a community in choir. I found a place where I can express and be who I am.

Being a part of the CMU choirs gave me a space to grow and learn in ways that are not possible in a classroom. I learned what it means to be a part of a cohesive team that only works when each member is contributing. Everything I do or do not do affects the choir as a whole.

Understanding and learning about my role in this community has also taught me that I cannot just worry about myself. Being a part of such an intricate community meant I had to learn that what I do matters but what we do together matters more. This was so important to understand especially in the preparation for Christmas at CMU.

At first, singing at Christmas at CMU felt like a job. I would get exhausted thinking about having to perform the repertoire eight times and for two different choirs. In the end, though, I was always sad that it was over. But this feeling never stayed for too long because I always knew that there would be next year.

Christmas at CMU features not only choirs, but also music ensembles like concert and jazz bands, guitar and handbell ensembles, and many others.

This year I had a similar feeling, but when it was over, I felt a different kind of sad. The only way I can describe how I was feeling is the German word verklempt (which means being overcome with emotions). I was overwhelmed with sadness that my days performing at Christmas at CMU were over because I’m graduating this year. But I was also overjoyed to have had the opportunity to sing in such amazing choirs and to be a part of such a beautiful event. I was also super excited to be able to come back and listen to the choirs and get to hear the high descants during the carol sing instead of sing them.

With my emotions in tow, I left Christmas at CMU grateful for the spirit it gave me, the people it surrounded me with, and the music that fed my soul.  

– Emily Hiebert, 5th-year Social Sciences student

From music to microscopes | Guest blogger Malcolm Reimer

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On December 5, 2019

In 2019-20

As a student ambassador for CMU, I spend an evening a week having conversations on the phone with grade 12 students from across Canada. Almost all of the time, I talk to two kinds of people about their post-secondary plans, goals, and dreams.

The first type are those rare students who seem to know exactly what they’re going to do with their lives: the aspiring doctors, nurses, and veterinarians. They’re often the hyper-motivated ones, and they’re probably admired by the adults and teachers around them and ever-so-slightly feared by their classmates.

The other type, the wide majority of students I talk to, are the ones who don’t really know what they’re going to do with the rest of their life and would like it if you would stop interrogating them about their future, thank you very much. These students, like most of my classmates in grade 12, haven’t made solid plans for university or work yet and aren’t sure what they want to do.

So if you’ve ever been asked about your future and have no clue how to respond, I feel your pain. One of my friends in high school got so tired of being asked what she “wanted to be” by everyone she met, she resorted to one answer: a pirate. In my opinion, that’s actually not a bad choice.

I enrolled at CMU in the Bachelor of Music program, taking classes like Music Theory and Music Skills and History of Music… you get the idea: all music, all the time. In grade 12 I had auditioned on the piano for CMU’s School of Music, and I had a picture in mind of becoming a music teacher or band director, like the teachers I’d most admired in high school. I wasn’t really sure this was the right choice, but it was enough of a plan for a first year. I knew that I wanted to study music, so I did.

CMU students Anna Schwartz and Malcolm Reimer

What I wasn’t expecting was that even though I was in a relatively structured program, taking mostly pre-determined courses, I would end up discovering some entirely different interests. I took a biology course as an elective, just because I liked biology and I had the high school prerequisites.

But as I continued with the course, I found that I was more and more interested in science. I had the chance to have deep conversations with professors who worked in their fields and who could answer questions about potential careers. My professors were researching interesting things like self-regenerating flatworms and strange parasites that live inside three different animal hosts over their lives.

The more I talked to them and the people in my biology classes, the more I found myself drawn to the whole field. By the end of the semester, I was more conflicted about what I “wanted to do” than at the beginning. By the end of the school year, I was ready to switch majors.

This often surprises people, and I get a lot of questions about how it was possible to make such a big change in my university plan. The answer is that I would never have been able to make that choice confidently without all the resources that CMU offers, from academic advising to career planning and everything in between.

If you’re a high school student perilously close to graduation, you know there’s a ton of pressure to have a plan for your career and life, or at least that’s what it feels like. Choosing a university and a degree can seem like a massive, life-changing decision.

But no matter what classes you take at university, the most important part is not the material you’ll learn. What’s far more valuable are the skills you develop in those classes and the things you discover along the way. University can reveal new options you never considered before.

– Malcolm Reimer, 2nd-year Science student

Geese-building and journalism: Tackling important issues with CMU’s investigative journalism team

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On November 19, 2019

In 2019-20

Tuition Freedom Day at CMU

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On November 18, 2019

In 2019-20

CMU does things differently. If you’ve worked here, studied here, or even just visited campus, you know this is true. And one of these things we do differently is tuition.

When I first heard about Tuition Freedom Day in my first year of studies, I was confused by the event. Didn’t students here just pay tuition for the year and continue on like every other university? The answer was of course, no, because CMU does things differently.

Tuition Freedom Day marks the end of the fiscal year that is paid for by student’s tuition, and celebrates the beginning of the year that is paid for by grants and donations from the Manitoba government, churches, and individual donors. And so of course, in CMU fashion, we have a party to celebrate and thank the lovely people who make our educations possible through their generosity!

Some highlights of the event include addresses from church representatives, alumni, students, and donors, music from our ever-talented crew of music students, and FREE pizza!

It’s a heartwarming event, and my favourite part has always been watching the donors interact with the students during lunch. They see the learning, discovery, and growth of our student-body, and it’s our chance to thank them for making it a reality.

So come on down to the CMU Chapel on Wednesday, November 20 at 11:30 AM, and let’s all celebrate Tuition Freedom Day together!

– Chloe Friesen, 3rd-year Communications and Media student

Crying out for the planet we live on | Guest blogger Mackenzie Nicolle

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On November 12, 2019

In 2019-20

“What do we want? Climate action! When do we want it? Now!” This was the chant that tore through the crowd as we marched in the global climate strike on the last Friday of September.

Many of us from CMU had just spent an hour in one of two churches adjacent to the Manitoba Legislative Building, sitting with people from many Christian denominations and other religions as we all cried out for one of the core things we all share— the planet we live on.

The climate strike in Winnipeg was a place that brought over 12,000 people together on the lawn of the Legislature. As such, it was a place where people came for many different reasons. There were youth who fear for their futures and want to show the world that they are willing to say something about it. There were parents who were marching for these youth. There were Indigenous folks who want everyone to remember the harm that has been done to the land and their people and for us all to be better in the future.

There were animal rights activists who preached the virtues of eating without animal cruelty, and explained the explicit ties between global warming and our eating habits. There were communists and anarchists who were clamouring for political reform. There were people of many different religions who wanted to fulfill their place as stewards of the earth. There were people who came simply because they wanted to be on the right side of history and wanted to witness the mass of humanity that accumulated in one place.

I watched many different groups of people I know move among the crowd, many holding up signs proclaiming the despair and anger they feel—how our apathy is killing us, how we are frightened to think about what the world may be like for our children, and how those who have the most power seem to be doing the very least, while the most vulnerable pay the price. We marched, chanting about climate action, gesturing to people in tall office buildings to come join us, marvelling at the surge of energy around us and the clean air we breathed.

Even though people came for such diverse reasons, what really mattered was that we were all there. This was not a rally that clearly pushed for any specific political or personal change to be done. But some people wore buttons that said, “We are many,” and I think in the hours of the strike, our numbers were a message themselves.

We were reminding ourselves that we are not alone in our desire for a sustainable earth. We were helping each other be aware of how many ways people can be affected by climate change. We were sending a larger message to a disbelieving world that the effect humans are having on the earth is something we need to take action about, now. And I think that if the number of small kids at the rally means anything, then we will have people continuing our chants about climate action for years to come.

– Words and photos by Mackenzie Nicolle, CMU Social Sciences alumna, Senior Residence Assistant, and current graduate student

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