Alumni Profiles
Relational Learning, Lasting Impact: Carrying the Spirit of CMU into Education
25 at 25 | Heather Schellenberg (CMU '09)
Heather Schellenberg (CMU ’09) majored in English with minors in Biblical and Theological Studies and Physical Education. Now a guidance and support teacher in Winnipeg School Division, she brings forward the ethos of care, hospitality, and community she experienced at CMU into her work with international students.
Heather Schellenberg was thrilled when she found out about CMU's new education degree program. As a teacher herself, she's excited about how this will allow CMU to send even more thoughtful, well-equipped grads out into the world to nurture the next generation. "I feel proud to have gone there, and I know it shaped me a lot," she says.
Schellenberg graduated in 2009 with an English major and a Biblical and Theological Studies minor, as well as a minor in Physical Education through the University of Winnipeg. She taught junior high for more than a decade and is now doing a post-bacc in guidance and counseling to work as a high school guidance counselor. She is also one of two support teachers in Winnipeg School Division that works with international students.
She meets with classroom teachers to identify where these students are struggling, which supports could benefit them most, what to communicate with their parents back home, and how to advocate for them so they have the tools they need to succeed. She also gets opportunities to take students on ski days and camping trips, and teach classes that focus on English language, Canadian culture, and connecting with other international students. "This is so unique. I get to be in so many different high schools... I get to work with amazing teachers; the students are wonderful," she says. "There are experiences I get from this that I would not get in a one-classroom kind of experience."
The majority of these international students come for one year to attend high school and live with a host family, but Schellenberg also visits elementary schools with numerous younger international students whose parents are waiting on a study or work permit. While the two situations are considerably different, ultimately, they are all kids far away from what is familiar, trying to learn in a new structure and language.
Schellenberg has taught English in South Korea, China, and Ghana. She can relate to those feelings of homesickness and culture shock. "When you're 17, that's a big deal. I get to journey with them as they go through that year and the ups and downs, and offer some guidance, but also be so proud of them."
The most important part of her role is making students feel cared for and supported. This was the ethos she felt CMU embodied when she was a student, from faculty to staff to her experience on the Blazers volleyball team. "I felt very safe and supported, and I think that's what you want your students to feel as a teacher. They need to feel safe and that they're important."
"[CMU] is so relational-based and I think that is one of its gifts. CMU has really also encouraged me to think about things critically and with a broad lens, and to be accepting of anyone and everyone. I think that's a really positive thing, and that has translated so much into my teaching with students. This generous hospitality, every day: You are welcome. You are safe. You have value. You have a place in this room. Those things can make or break a classroom and a school experience for someone."
The community Schellenberg encountered at CMU continues to mean a lot to her, and the friends she made have remained some of her closest. She lived on campus for two years, a time she summarizes with just a few words and a laugh: "It was pranks and hanging out with friends. It was the best time of my life!"
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