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On March 8th, 2023 four students competed in the C. Henry Smith Oratorical Contest. This contest invites people from Mennonite and Brethren in Christ colleges and universities across Canada and the United States to compete. Here at the University of Waterloo, Peace and Conflict Students as well as Grebel Residents were invited to share their voices on topics of Christian peace position on contemporary concerns and were judged on topic, content, delivery, introduction, conclusion, and creativity.

On March 8th, 2023 four students competed in the C. Henry Smith Oratorical Contest. This contest invites people from Mennonite and Brethren in Christ colleges and universities across Canada and the United States to compete. Here at the University of Waterloo, Peace and Conflict Students as well as Grebel Residents were invited to share their voices on topics of Christian peace position on contemporary concerns and were judged on topic, content, delivery, introduction, conclusion, and creativity.

My name is Victoria Lumax, and I am a fifth-year Honours Arts student, majoring in Peace and Conflict Studies and English. I had the incredible chance to go to the MCC United Nations Office 2022 Student Seminar in New York this past November. Here is what I learned about peace.

Ryan Bromley is a 3A Arts and Business student with a Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) major. Ryan was a fall 2021 Enterprise Co-op pitch winner. Enterprise Co-op (E Co-op) is a co-op pathway that allows students to pursue an entrepreneurial co-op option in which students start their businesses while earning a co-op credit. Ryan’s original pitch was to create a “Peace to co-op” business that would teach university students critical personal and professional skills related to PACS. Throughout the work term, Ryan displayed incredible flexibility, drive, and vision in his journey through the term as he worked towards a dream that extends beyond the four months of the co-op.

With the worldview and perspective from Peace and Conflict Studies, combined with the understanding of systems and policy that Legal Studies provides, Anna is ready to take on the world. Anna is in her 4^th year, studying a double major in Legal Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies, as well as being in the co-op program. After taking PACS 202: Conflict Resolution, Anna Miedema realized the value in having Peace and Conflict Studies as part of her degree. Since then, she has been able to find new ways that PACS can apply to her everyday life as well as her co-op experience.

When Abbey began her co-op position last spring, she struggled to see how her Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) education could be relevant to her work. Now that she has finished her co-op position, she can hardly fathom a position where PACS would not apply – at least in some capacity.

Lowell Ewert, Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) at Conrad Grebel University College and the University of Waterloo, has been honoured with one of the four UWaterloo 2020 Distinguished Teacher Awards. This award celebrates exemplary instructors with a record of teaching excellence over an extended period. In addition to intellectual rigour, criteria for the award include impact beyond the classroom, concern for students, and a favourable and lasting influence on students and colleagues.

By Michelle Jackett

Michelle Jackett is a graduate of the Peace and Conflict Studies program (BA ’11) and holds an MA in Conflict Transformation, specializing in Restorative Justice (‘13). She currently works as Coordinator of the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement and teaches Restorative Justice for PACS.

Did you know caterpillars turn to goop inside their cocoons before becoming butterflies? I learned this fun fact from Rebecca Solnit in her recent article “’The impossible has already happened': what coronavirus can teach us about hope.” More than a fun fact, the caterpillar’s transformation is an analogy.