Education

SUPPLEMENT TO THE FREE PRESS • SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2022 13 EDUCATION GUIDE Not your ordinary university CANADIAN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY BY TODD LEW YS S uffice it to say that Cana- dian Mennonite Univer- sity (CMU) is anything but your ordinary uni- versity. "We're more than just an arts and humanities school," says CMU's president, Cheryl Pauls. "We also have science, business and communications streams at the university, too." Not only that, but CMU also does something that other univer- sities don't do. "Since 2000, we've had the re- quirement that every student does a work placement," she explains. "The concept of work integrated learning is big today, and we've been doing it for over 20 years. Ev- ery student that studies here gets the opportunity to get that real- life experience." In short — again, unlike most universities — CMU wants to pro- vide its students with practical ex- perience, not just theory gleaned from spending time in a class- room. Direct, hands-on experience is critical. "For example, in our first-year science labs, students get to work with professors doing research projects, not student teachers," Pauls says. "That way, they get di- rect exposure to professionals do- ing real-life projects. Then their professor might be able to get them a work placement at the vi- rology lab." Pauls adds that CMU's practical, hands-on approach is comple- mented by a learning environ- ment that fosters growth both as a student and person. "Our goal is to provide students with an excellent depth in their field of study while using the ex- perience to also develop and form them as people. We strive to main- tain a productive tension between both academics and personal de- velopment." The result is an atmosphere that promotes both academic and per- sonal growth. "I think there's a real quality to the teaching here," she says. "Stu- dents can talk to people about the big questions in life and have con- versations across different areas — call it an interdisciplinary ap- proach. Having relationships with one another allows students to share ideas. That broadens their knowledge base and makes them more worldly." And there's much knowledge to be gained, since CMU's student population is very diverse. "Actually, only 30 per cent of students that attend CMU have a Mennonite affiliation," notes Pauls. "The other 70 per cent of our students come from different areas. Our international students come here from 30 countries and five continents." That diverse community creates an interesting dynamic that many other universities don't possess, she adds. "It seems to make people more intentional about developing re- lationships to talk with and shape each other. That and the univer- sity's spiritual traditions make it a place where relationships are at the core of everything we do." In turn, that upbeat atmosphere helps reduce the stress that can result from grinding constantly to attain high grades. "Students are almost always pleasantly surprised by the atmo- sphere here," she says. "Because they have people to engage with who really care about who they really are, it results in a real de- escalation of anxiety." At the end of the day, having that extra support makes a big dif- ference. "At CMU, academic excellence happens due to these relational aspects. And it's not just 'nice stuff ' on the side; it's a distinct way of doing very fine academic work. When you're taking practi- cal, hands-on courses and you're not on your own, you have the op- portunity to work things through. That makes for better students — and better people." Our goal is to provide students with an excellent depth in their field of study while using the experience to also develop and form them as people." — Cheryl Pauls, CMU's president SUPPLIED PHOTOS SUPPLIED PHOTO CANADIAN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY Where teaching is exceptional Accepting applications for Fall 2022 cmu.ca/admissions Small university Big opportunities

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