Cover Photo: The 2004 Don Team. Trish (Niemeyer) Ashworth is at the top left, and Mary Brubaker-Zehr at the bottom right.
Trisha (Niemeyer) Ashworth (BASC 2005) lives in the greater Toronto, Ontario area. She is a professional engineer, a mother of two teenagers, a partner to John David, and an engaged member of Rouge Valley Mennonite church.
When Trish was focusing in on engineering as a future career, the University of Waterloo was a natural choice of school. An uncle pointed her in the direction of a College named Grebel!
“I came in 2000 not knowing anyone, nor much about the College,” stated Trish. “Mennonite students seemed to be everywhere and they all appeared to all know each other—and then there was the rest of us! Initially, I found this challenging, but then the hospitality of the community and its commitment to multi-year residence meant friendships began to form across beliefs, backgrounds, and traditions.”
Trish called Grebel her Waterloo ‘home’ over the entire five years of her Systems Design Engineering degree. “Because I was always coming and going on work terms, Grebel was a grounding place for me—a consistent home to come back to—a place that was known, and most importantly, where I was known.”
One memory that keeps surfacing for Trish is Grebel’s custom of filling the table. She considers this community practice something profound, as it paved the way for her and others to engage with each other when they might not have otherwise done so. “I’ve been thinking about it, and over time I’ve come to realize its deep significance.”
Raised in a home that participated in different Christian denominations, Trish considered her faith an individual journey. Her time at Grebel and regular participation in the Chapel program opened her eyes to something different. “Grebel helped me see that faith was also a community commitment—a shared journey, which eventually led me to express my faith publicly, in a new way, through baptism and by joining a Mennonite church.” She remembers creative Chapel services that students had a role in planning. In one service, with students in lab coats and goggles and a beaker of yeast brewing and bubbling over, Chaplain Ed Janzen spoke about how the kingdom of God is like yeast. “Ed gave us permission to express ourselves and be creative in worship. I remember this, and to this day, it inspires me to be creative in my own worship leading,” stated Trish.
Trish took the opportunity to fill her limited engineering elective space with Peace and Conflict Studies courses. “I didn’t quite get enough for a minor, but almost. Even still, the courses I did take had a major impact. They were, hands-down, my favorite courses and they were the ones that informed my thinking about the world and how I view world events.” Weekly Community Suppers allowed her to engage with PACS faculty outside the classroom. They also exposed her to the experiences of others. “Just when I was really struggling about whether or not to stay in engineering, a professional engineer was the guest speaker at dinner and she spoke about the breadth and opportunity of her work. For some time after that we corresponded about the many ways I might use my degree. It was so helpful.”
In closing, Trish reflected on the big windows at Grebel that left a lasting impression. “The light shone in those windows—I often recall it when I think of the College—a small hospitable community that welcomed the big outside world in.”
