Alumni Profiles
Finding Connection as an Outsider: How CMU Shaped a Public Servant
25 at 25 | Marvin Marcial (CMU '07)
Marvin Marcial (CMU ’07) graduated with a Bachelor of Music and is now Policy and Program Coordinator in Manitoba’s Immigration Division. He credits CMU with teaching him the value of inclusivity and curiosity—lessons he carries into his work building welcoming communities for newcomers.
Marvin Marcial didn't mean to become a CMU student. What was initially supposed to be one music elective as a visiting student from the University of Winnipeg turned him into a full-time student who ended up graduating from CMU with a Bachelor of Music in 2007. "I ended up in choir and that changed the whole trajectory of my education, and I transferred over to CMU the next year," he says.
Marcial didn't understand references to Low German or know people's relatives based on their last name, both of which can be common in Canadian Mennonite circles. But it didn't prevent him from diving into life at CMU and having a rewarding experience. "I met some folks that were very different from me that became lifelong friends."
In those early years of CMU, a Catholic upbringing and no connections to Mennonites meant Marcial stood out. Sometimes that difference caused discomfort within himself and others—but he also felt that his conversations with fellow students and faculty always came from genuine curiosity and built connection. "I was certainly different, but there was still that welcoming, that openness there, that made it a good experience."
"I think CMU tries to put this out there strongly with its students and community, this understanding of inclusivity and curiosity... I think that's important, especially today," he says, referring to increasing division and polarization of society, especially in politics and policy.
It's also a value that comes up often in his work. Marcial is Policy and Program Coordinator of Integration Programs in the Government of Manitoba's Immigration Division. He assists newcomer settlement in the province by "building systems that are effective [and] positive, connecting underrepresented groups to needs and community," through distributing funding to community service providers and analyzing immigration policy. He is simultaneously working towards a Master of Public Administration at the University of Manitoba.
His experience of being both an outsider and part of a supportive community is continually relevant in his workplace discussions about creating welcoming urban and rural communities across Canada for newcomers and immigrants. "[CMU] showed me that idea of welcoming and inviting community, that discomfort that's required to learn and experience something new and to hear a new perspective both ways."
After graduating, Marcial did some substitute music teaching in Winnipeg, and then taught English and did choral conducting in South Korea. He began teaching English to newcomers when he returned to Canada, which got him into settlement and integration work and led him all the way to government.
People think the leap from a music degree to government work is a big and strange one, but Marcial says, "A lot of those skills come into the work that I do every single day." The extensive hours of practice required for performing music taught him "how important that [preparation] is to handle the pressure in the moment when you go live." Marcial describes himself as very introverted, but because of the skills he developed at CMU, people turn to him "to be the spokesperson... or to answer the difficult questions that come to government."
He connects even his conducting class, where he learned how to construct a choral repertoire to convey a theme, to his work now. "I do the same things in a policy briefing note to the minister. What are the messages that we're trying to get together?... What are the themes that are going to hit with that minister so they best understand the policy issue at hand? It's these weird things that you don't think would relate that actually have been extremely helpful in the work that I do."
When Marcial expresses his wish for any potential students, it's in two parts: "Join a choir, do music!" and "For all the other outsiders out there that are thinking about going to CMU, some encouragement for them to take the leap because there's a lot to gain at CMU."
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