News

Throughout the stages of her life, music has played an important role for alum Nicole Simone (BASC 2016). After graduating from the University of Waterloo with a joint honours degree in Music and Systems Design Engineering in 2016, she returned to Conrad Grebel University College’s Music department as the accompanist for the University Choir in 2018. “People often come back to choir after graduation, which creates a strong, supportive environment,” she reflected.  

When Marina Gallagher was sitting in Professor Laura Gray’s Music and Landscapes class in 2013, she didn’t imagine that the connections she was making between pastoral music, landscapes, and Classical literature would lead her back to Grebel a decade later, teaching a special topics course on Video Game Music.  

Think about a time when you attended a worship service in a community that was new to you. What stood out as different? What is most important about worship for you? Now imagine you’re 13-29 years old. Would you answer differently? 

Two Grebel alumni, Sarah Kathleen Johnson (BA 2007, MTS 2008) and Mykayla Turner (BSC 2020, MTS 2024), are asking these very questions through a collaboration on the Young People and Christian Worship study. This research project aims to shape better conversations about teenagers, emerging adults, and Christian worship by valuing their experiences as an important theological voice. 

Kathryn Ladano is Conrad Grebel University College’s 2025 Distinguished Alumni Service Award winner, recognized for her contributions to the community, as it is lived out artistically, musically, and practically.

Mechanical Engineering

For Conrad Grebel University College resident Jared Dyck, studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Waterloo hasn’t just been about equations and design; it also came with a soundtrack. Thanks to his love of music, Jared has meshed choral singing with university life, bringing creativity and balance to a demanding academic path. 

This spring, Grebel turned into a space for listening, wandering, and discovering the sounds of the medieval past through a chant-inspired soundwalk. Conrad Grebel University College, in partnership with St. Jerome’s University at the University of Waterloo, participated in the Digital Analysis of Chant Transmission Project (DACT) Soundwalk: “Singing Musical Fragments: Waterloo.” The soundwalk invited visitors to explore and listen to medieval chants originating from many different time periods and locations. The DACT Project is a Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Project led by Jennifer Bain, PI, and many co-investigators across Canada and around the world. DACT collaborators Kate Helsen, Debra Lacoste, and Kate Kennedy Steiner, created the DACT Soundwalk as an activity for the annual conferences of the Canadian University Music Society (MUSCAN) and the Canadian Society of Medievalists held at UWaterloo in May 2025. 

English and Music, Double Majors

Chloe Shantz is graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and a double major in Music and English Literature and is the recipient of the Music Departmental Award. “I grew up in a musical family, and English was always my favourite subject in school,” she said. After graduating high school during the pandemic, Chloe found herself drawn to the supportive and close-knit environment at Grebel.

Congratulations to Chloe Shantz (Honours Music & English Literature - Intensive English Specialization, Creative Writing Specialization) on being this year’s recipient of the Departmental Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in Music for the graduating class of 2025.

On behalf of the Department of Music, congratulations, Chloe, on your academic achievement and very best wishes from all of us!

We'll also miss you in chamber choir ensembles!

Congratulations to the dozen music students who are finishing their UWaterloo degrees.