Faces of Renison: Walking Toward Connection
For nearly 30 years, SDS alumna Juanita Metzger (BA '96) has helped people discover the stories, connections, and sense of belonging that make a community thrive.
When Juanita Metzger arrived at Renison in 1993, she was still figuring out her path.
After taking two years away from school following high school and briefly exploring another program, she found her way to Renison's Social Development Studies program. She was committed to staying close to home in Waterloo Region, and SDS offered something she couldn't find elsewhere: a chance to explore social issues, communities, and the foundations of social work.
What she didn't realize at the time was that those years at Renison would shape the next three decades of her life and work.
"The courses and professors opened up entirely new worlds for me," Juanita recalls. "Everything was a new introduction - new ways of thinking about social issues, policy, and community."
She remembers professors like Tom Brenner and Peter Dunn, whose courses challenged students to think beyond individual circumstances and consider the systems, policies, and community dynamics that shape people's lives.
Learning to See Communities Differently
After graduating in 1996, Juanita built a career rooted in community development across Waterloo Region. Through organizations such as House of Friendship and the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council, she worked alongside neighbourhoods to strengthen local leadership, build community capacity, and respond to challenges at a grassroots level.
Along the way, she discovered something important.
"You can only learn so much sitting in an office or a meeting room," she says.
Instead of asking residents to come to her, Juanita began asking them to take her for a walk.
As they walked through their neighbourhoods, people shared stories about where they lived, introduced her to neighbours, pointed out local assets, and spoke openly about the opportunities and challenges facing their communities.
"Walking and talking became part of my community practice toolbox," she says. "It's a very non-threatening, low-barrier way to build relationships and make connections."
Walking Toward Connection
That simple idea eventually grew into a new chapter.
After more than twenty years in community development work, Juanita stepped away from full-time employment in 2018 to explore new possibilities. What began as freelance writing and local storytelling evolved into an unexpected business focused on guided walking tours throughout Waterloo Region.
Today, through Stroll Walking Tours, Juanita helps residents and visitors discover the stories hidden in the places they pass every day.
From local history and food tours to explorations of women's history and Black history in Waterloo Region, her work invites people to slow down, look closer, and see their communities in new ways.
"When people can connect stories to physical places, something changes," she explains. "If you're standing where someone lived or where an important event happened, there's a different kind of connection to that story."
Those connections can be powerful, particularly when they help people see themselves reflected in local history.
Through her work highlighting Black history, women's history, and other often-overlooked stories, Juanita has witnessed how representation deepens people's sense of belonging.
"People often tell me they finally see themselves reflected in the history of this region," she says. "It changes how they think about their community and their place within it."
A Foundation That Lasts
Looking back, Juanita sees a direct line between her experiences at Renison and the work she continues to do today.
When asked what Renison means to her now, her answer comes easily.
"Foundational," she says. "It provided the grounding that led me to nearly thirty years of work in this community."
And for today's students, she believes Renison's greatest strength remains the same.
"It's human-scale," she says. "You can get to know people. Professors know your name. There are opportunities to connect beyond the classroom. Those relationships matter."
For Juanita, those connections became the starting point for a lifelong commitment to helping others connect with their communities, their neighbours, and the stories that make a place feel like home.
Building on What Makes Renison Special
For generations of students like Juanita, Renison has been a place to learn, build relationships, and find a sense of belonging. One Renison is about carrying that experience forward, creating space for more students to become part of the close-knit community that has defined Renison for generations.