Canadian Mennonite University

Forestry management helps alumnus find a just and equitable world

Darcy Reimer (’15, Environmental Studies): "CMU instilled a passion that motivated me to find a discipline where I could do something that uses my skills, that feels meaningful and helpful to others.” Darcy Reimer (’15, Environmental Studies): "CMU instilled a passion that motivated me to find a discipline where I could do something that uses my skills, that feels meaningful and helpful to others.”

Hearing Darcy Reimer ('15, Environmental Studies) reflect on this time at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU), you see how CMU was a place of intersection, bringing together his passions and helping direct him into his career.

Reimer appreciated the small, interactive biology classes with Dr. Rachel Krause where he had the freedom to explore individual curiosities. Important to these classes was how the dialogue between science and faith were incorporated into his education, through which Reimer found a congruity between faith and science.

As Krause's classes merged science and faith, Dr. Ray Vander Zaag's Introduction to Geography created a passion for environment care and the impact climate change has on humans, especially the underprivileged. This class motivated Reimer's pursuit of environmental science at the University of Manitoba after his time at CMU.

Living on campus at CMU allowed Reimer to nurture significant relationships that later played an important role in his career choice. CMU friends invited him to plant trees in the forests of British Columbia, which he did for a season. While tree planting, he learned of wildfire fighting and explored this new interest the following summer.

The combination of his environmental studies and three seasons of forest fire fighting in Northern Manitoba led Reimer to pursue a career in forestry management. He recently applied to the Master of Natural Resources program at the University of Idaho to study fire ecology and management.

As he reflects on his career path and ongoing education, Reimer states that CMU laid the groundwork for his continued studies and career.

"CMU instilled a passion that motivated me to find a discipline where I could do something that uses my skills, that feels meaningful and helpful to others," Reimer says. "My hope is that I can impact our public services and the way we manage our natural resources so that they are more sustainable."

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