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PERSPECTIVEV O L . 2 2 N O . 1 / F A L L 1 3

What a great weekend forWestgate volleyball! The2013 MHSAA Provincial

AAA Championships held great promisefor both our varsity teams.

The girls’ team entered the tournament asthe No. 3 seed, winning the Zone 2championship in dramatic fashion. Afterlosing the first two sets to conference rivalSt. Norbert, and trailing in the third,Westgate rallied to win the next three setsand the match. Their poise under pressurewould serve them well in the Provincials.After some challenging round robingames, the girls finally succumbed to adetermined Dauphin team in the semifinal.The Wings’ solid performance earnedthem a victory over Calvin Christian in thebronze medal match. Special congratulationsgo to setter Sam Bridle on being selectedto the tournament All-Star team.

Despite their No. 2 seeding, theWestgate boys had gold on their mindsthroughout the weekend. Facing sometough challenges during the round robinand semifinals, they persevered and

A BANNER WEEKEND FOR THE WINGS!

reached the final against the No.1 seed,Calvin Christian. Led by tournament MVPCole Friesen and All-Stars Ben Miller andNick Niebuhr, the Wings were not to bedenied. Saving their best game of theweekend for this night, they outlastedtheir opposition 25-21 and 25-22 tocapture the championship banner.

In addition to these wonderfulachievements, five of our grade 12 playerswere recognized as Graduating All-Starsby the Manitoba Volleyball Association.Lexi Janovcik and Samantha Bridle werechosen to the girls’ team, while ColeFriesen, Ben Miller and Caleb Snider wereselected to the boys’ team. �

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Westgate is a pretty special school – anda really amazing one. So when we firstgot here we were quite anxious, butdidn’t need to be. All the people atWestgate welcomed us as if we weregoing there since Grade 7.

It was very different than our schoolsback home. Our schools have about1,000 students so not everyone knowseveryone. At Westgate it is very familiarwhich we really liked – we are going tomiss this family a lot! The big schoolchapels were amazing – we kept onsaying that we want that communal spiritat our schools back home as well. Weactually said a couple of times that welike school better here than in Germany.

The classes we took were a lot of fun.The teaching style is not the same as inGermany. We think that’s because of therelationship between student andteacher. The teachers at Westgate knowtheir students better than the Germanteachers do so they can teach differentlyand more with the students – which weliked a lot.

We learned a lot of new vocabulary aswell as the “local language” (how’s itgoin’?) and some of the “traditions” ofWinnipeg (Go, Jets, Go). Ourexpectations have been surpassed. Weare really going to miss all the peoplehere and the school itself, too.

Marike Voßbeck

Irene Kim, Adrianna Friesen, andSavannah Baird recently did an

excellent job of organizing andpresenting a Jr. and Sr. Chapel to all thestudents based on the parable of thetalents. This initiative was one of severalproject options available in MennoniteHistory class that encourage anexploration of faith, family, andhistory. The options range from the usualbook reports and essays to attendingCMU’s Peace It Together conference.Past students have chosen projectsincluding knitting with Oma whilediscussing faith, (Mikaela Hoeppner ’11),exploring how the More with Lesscookbook interacts with family andputting faith into practice. (Kate Niebuhr’11) or designing a family faith historyboard game (Adam Fuhr ’11). �

GERMAN EXCHANGE

Why we will missWestgate

MENNONITEHISTORY

Westgate would liketo thank GermanExchange studentSimon Delkeskamp(from Hamburg) andhis family for theirgenerous gift. Simonpractices indoorartistic cycling and thefamily donated hisbike to our school.Perhaps our studentswill be inspired bySimon’s performanceto take up this uniquesport.

Exchange students Marika Voßbeck and AnnchristinLehmann in Canmore, Alberta.

Mikaela

Adam

Kate

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At Westgate we take turns. Insteadof the Varsity Boys bringing home

gold, this year the Varsity GIRLS were theones who were victorious, placing first inProvincials and coming home bearingmedals, t-shirts and the championshipbanner! The Varsity Boys took homesilver medals and an appetite for morenext year. It was a great ending, but allthe teams had an amazing overallseason. From gasping through intervalsdown Wellington Crescent, to sprinting

“WE HATE IT, BUT WE LOVE IT”

exhausting laps at Omand’s Park;struggling up and down Garbage Hill,even sprinting up the hill to finish atKilcona Park; all of this prepared us forour trip to Spruce Woods for the Provincials.Confident and smiling (at least at thebeginning of the race), we finished theseason with much encouragement fromour coaches, who watched from thesidelines while we did all the work. Whatcan we say? We hate it, but we love it.Most importantly, we do it. Every year. �

Pictured (l-r): Annie Rose Daudet, Hillary Rempel,Nadya Langelotz, Amy Baergen, Adrianna Friesen,Annchristin Lehmann

The wonderful Grace Cloutier, New York harpist, was inWinnipeg to perform with Camerata Nova, and graciouslyoffered to give a performance and workshop on the harp,with all its magic and intricacy. We were very fortunate tohave had such an accomplished musician visit Westgate;Grace’s most recent album with The Etherea VocalEnsemble is nominated for a Grammy award, and she hasbeen a top seller with iTunes for many years.

Students and parents were genuinely impressed withGrace’s performance, prompting many interesting andinsightful questions. Thank you Grace!

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Two years ago my daughterpresented her research findings at

a medical conference in San Francisco.Instead of presenting a paper, all herresearch was required to be shown asone poster.

In this age of the Internet, with itspredominance of the image asknowledge, the IOF course was createdto assist students to better understandhow to view, interpret and create visuals.James Friesen and I decided to studyreligious images with our classes, todiscover how culture and media haveshaped religions historically, and continueto shape our view of religion today.

“And why do you draw animals? Howare these images of faith?” are commonquestions from my colleagues when theysee the beautiful charcoal sketches theGrade 9 IOF class produces at thebeginning of the term.

I explain, “I visited the Lascaux Caves in2008 and I was awed by the holiness ofthis site.” The drawings are far fromprimitive – stylized yes – but thesecraftsmen had studied animals carefully,with reverence. This cave art representspossibly the oldest idea of religiousthought, the awareness of the spiritualnature of the universe. As I tell mycolleagues, “To closely study animals

through actually drawing them, presentsa new awareness of the beauty anduniqueness of God’s creation.”

By looking at how religious thoughtdeveloped, our class considered theprinciples of design, symbolism, andvisual metaphors. We studied suchdiverse images as the Sistine Chapel’s“God Creating the Sun, the Moon andthe Planets,” by Michelangelo, whoemphasized the power of one true God,and Islamic ceramic tile patterns whichfocus on the beauty of “The Mind ofGod” with geometric shapes thatconnect the universe in amazingmathematical ratios.

The students always create visual piecesin response to our studies of thehistorical images. These have includedsketches, pastel paintings, logos,collages, tiles, and posters.

James continues the second half of thecourse with a film study which lookscritically at how modern media shape ourview of religion. In searching for howpeople understand “heroes,” the classviews, discusses, and responds to suchdiverse works as “The Gospel Accordingto the Simpsons,” “Star Wars,” and“Jesus of Montreal.” Students end thecourse with pondering the “Future ofReligion in the Media.” � Terry Dirks

IMAGES OF FAITH—A NEW COURSEAT WESTGATE

Mr. Dyck givesinstruction toAliyah Baerg andRiley Birkett during rehearsal for Westgate’sproduction of the drama, Les Miserables, held Dec. 5-7.

In addition to this course,Westgate is pleased to offer aGrade 10 OUTDOOREDUCATION course for oursecond semester. JeremySiemens will be instructing thisnew school-initiated course.

LesMiserables

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How many parables can you find in the chapel banner?Thanks to Richelle Birchell (’14) for her gift of art.

CHARLOTTE KROEKER AND NANCY LOEWEN WENT TO SAN DIEGO…

…to attend the International Forum on LanguageTeaching Conference or iFLT Conference: a conferencefocused on interactive teacher training on July 9-12,2013. Nancy and I were grateful for the opportunity toattend this conference to further our French andGerman language teaching. We were able to observemaster teachers implementing best practices in a varietyof languages followed by a debriefing session. It wasfascinating to take part in several Mandarin lessons andsee the engagement and progress of the students in justa few hours of instruction. We were also able to attenda variety of sessions on using storytelling, reader’stheatre, and reading to engage students and create aclassroom culture that is most conducive to languagelearning. Charlotte Kroeker

THANK YOU TO OUR PRIZE SPONSORSWoodland Supply and MIG Insurance

2013 RAFFLE PRIZE WINNERSPeter and Katie Dyck – Trip forTwo to Vancouver Island Thank you Bonaventure Travel, Oyster Bay Resorts and U.N.Luggage

Tyler MacLean and Cal Dueck – Big Screen HDTV Packages Thank you Berdick Windows and Westgate Golf Committee

Peter Enns – Hors d’oeuvres catered by Bob, Ozzie and JohnThank you Morning Glory Catering

Rob Quiring – Premium Jets’ Tickets and Jerseys Thank you Ewert, Rempel and Snider Families

Congratulations to our raffle, grand prize and on-coursegolf winners, our golfers, volunteers and generous tournamentsponsors. Please visit our website and view our golf sponsorposter in the gym to know who is supporting our event, andthank you for supporting them.

WESTGATE & FRIENDSGOLF TOURNAMENT

SAVE THE DATE: Tuesday, August 26th to come golfwith us for our 10th Annual Tournament.

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Ultimate – Pictured above are Westgate students who played on the Manitoba provincialUltimate teams this summer. Westgate was well represented! Not included in the group pictureis Nick Peters, captain of Manitoba’s other team, Manitou.

MOFO Girls team, 4th place: Anya Snider, Krista Aitken, J.J. Ens-McIvor, Erika Gustafson-Fish

MOFO Boys team, Silver Medalists: Jackson Gustafson-Fish, Caleb Snider, Quinn Snider, Liam Sawatzky

Manitou Boys team, 11th place finish: Nick Peters (photo above right)

WHAT THEY DID LAST SUMMER

Mackenzie Thiessen-Ryall (’16) wasselected to represent Canada at the 2013Adequan FEI North American Junior &Young Rider Championships, held July 16-21, 2013 at the Kentucky Horse Parkin Lexington, KY. After months of trainingin Arizona last year, Mackenzie’s hardwork paid off and she was both honouredand proud to represent Canada at such aprestigious event.

Canada Games – Congratulations to former and current Westgate students Ben Miller (’14), Danika Hummelt (’16) and Janessa Klatt (’12). They represented our province this past summer at theCanada Games in Quebec. As part of the silver medal winning men’s basketball team, Ben Miller earnednational attention as one of the best basketball players in the country in his age group.

Ben and Danikawith PremierGreg Selinger

Janessa

Danika in action

Ben in action

Nicole Pate (’17) – Last summer, my friend atKelvin High School approached me to see if Iwanted to go on a five-day trip to Churchill with herschool. Going into this trip, I really had no ideawhat it would be like, or who I would be with. Themajority of the students going were either Grade 11or 12 Kelvin students, or Grade 12 students whohad come in from Baltimore. It was a long trip up,but it was worth it. We spent two days on thetundra buggies, the massive trucks that drove usdeep into the tundra. It was a research based trip, taking pictures of the bears’ whisker patternsand their bodies. It is really an amazing thing to see a real polar bear in its natural habitat.Overall, we saw 10 different bears. It was such a privilege to go on this trip and to meet somany really cool people. Now I can cross that off my bucket list!

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Scholarships_______________________________

Our graduates earned thefollowing post-secondaryawards/scholarships:

University of Manitoba

Rachel Blaine – Early AdmissionScholarship Award

Kamilla Pinter, Krysten Kennedy, Kirstyn Eckhardt – Entrance Scholarship

Baden Gaeke Franz, Jonas Pagé – QueenElizabeth Entrance Scholarship

Debora Stasolla, Mathieu Sawatzky,Michaela Loewen, Byong Jo Lee –Hogg Centennial Entrance Scholarship

Eagan Peters – Advanced Early AdmissionScholarship Award

Canadian Mennonite University

Jessica Klassen, Mariette Koop, Krista Aitken, Joel Kliewer, Anya Snider,Emma Ens-MacIver, Emma Bergen, Lindsey Pankratz, Owen Baerg, Joshua Neustaedter Barg, Jason Friesen,Ayla Manning, Tobian Penner, Olivia Wiebe, Katie Enns, Alex Wilson –Academic Entrance Scholarship

Daniel Friesen – Returning Student LeaderScholarship

Emma Bergen – Leadership Scholarship

Nicole Froese – Program Merit Award: Music

Merridy Peters – Academic ExcellenceScholarship

Joshua Neustaedter Barg – Redekop FirstYear Full Tuition Scholarship

Jason Friesen – Leadership Merit Award,Merit Award: Athletics

Paul Currie – Program Merit Award: Music,Scouting Award: Music

Katie Enns – Merit Award: Athletics

High school graduation opens thedoors to the big world we live in.

And I knew I wanted to go experiencethis world. During the year 2012-13, Idecided to do just that and learn a littlebit more about this world from the insideperspective of an Intentional AnabaptistCommunity in South Korea. This pastyear was one of the most challenging butmost rewarding years of my life. Beingthrown into different living arrangements,different lifestyles, and a completelydifferent culture would scare mostpeople, but it excited me. The chance toexperience a different way of life and

make connections across the world isamazing and life-giving to me. I was notonly accepted into a community ofstrangers as a sister in Christ, but learnedhow to cook some traditional Koreandishes, was able to teach English to thechildren in my community, and ultimatelylearn a new way of life. This cross-culturalexperience is something I know I will notforget, and something I hope to incorporateinto my life here in Winnipeg. As for now,I am attending CMU, which has beengoing well, and I am still constantlylearning new and exciting things, justdifferent from what I learned last year. �

JESSICA KLASSEN’S (’12) KOREAN EXPERIENCE

Making kimchi, a typical side dish withfermented lettuce and red pepper pastesauce, offered at every meal.

I am playing a traditional instrumentcalled a gayageum while wearing ahanbok.

CYCLATHON AND HOMECOMING

WALTER KAMPEN (’70)(left) and CHRIS ENNS(’72) (right) shareWestgate memorieswith current parentHerb Rempel.

Former teacher Al Klassen(centre) came out to ridesome laps with his sonJERRY (’88). Picturedwith Al are formerstudent Christine Froese(’81) and current principalBob Hummelt.

Future 100/100 Clubmember

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Alumni News

86 West GateWinnipeg, Manitoba R3C 2E1Phone (204) 775-7111 Fax (204) 786-1651

Email westgate@westgatemennonite.cawww.westgatemennonite.ca

JARED ENNS (’09) and TONYAWAGNER (’09) (now Enns), weremarried at Douglas Mennonite Church onJuly 6, 2013. Jared is currently completinghis last year of his Honours degree inPhysics from the University of Winnipeg,and Tonya is in her last year of herMaster’s degree in Occupational Therapyat the University of Manitoba.

HANNAH HILDEBRAND (’07)celebrated her wedding this summer witha number of her Westgate classmates,seen here at the reception in AssiniboinePark. Hannah and CMU alumnus PaulMuns were married on June 28, 2013 atFort Garry Mennonite Fellowship.

MONIKA LOEWEN WALL (’81) haswritten a work called “Handmaid of theLord.” It tells the story of the nativityfrom Mary’s perspective through shortnarrations and 20 original contemporarysongs. It was performed at EastviewChurch on Dec. 6th.

Here is a synopsis of “Handmaid of theLord – the Christmas story.”

The greatest story ever told, the story ofChristmas, told from a fresh, newperspective. Mary, the mother of Jesus,tells her experience which changed thecourse of humanity.

Combining the classic story with theclassical elegance of the angel Gabriel,the sassy swing of the wise men, theenergy of latin rhythms of the celebratingshepherds and the simplicity of a folktune in Mary’s lullaby, you will hear it, asif for the first time. From the struggle of atango as Mary and Joseph seek shelter forthe birth of Jesus to the heart wrenching“Vocalise of the mourning mothers” afterthe vengeful Herod murders the infants ofBethlehem, the characters come alive asliving, breathing people.

The crowning glory is a full choirrepresenting the chorus of angels and thepeople of the earth.

AMY (VANDERHOOFT ’02) andJARRETT REMPEL are pleased towelcome Noah Luke Rempel to theirfamily. Noah joined brother Caleb a littleahead of his expected due date, arrivingon Friday, Nov. 15th, weighing in at 5 lb.12 oz. May God bless your growing family!

DANIKA BOCK (’05) and husband DrexSerduletz are pleased to announce theopening of their new stationery and giftshop in the Exchange district. Tiny Feast(217 McDermot Ave.) is not your averagestationery store. “Many of the companieswe stock are small, and are doingeverything in-house, from design toproduction, packing, and shipping. Forexample, we work with husband-and-wifeteams, letterpress printing cards in theStates; two sisters who are binding booksby hand in Berlin; and a studio that designsand produces screen printed textiles inSouth Africa,” says Danika. They lookforward to seeing many Westgate friendsvisit over the holiday season – and perhapsfind a unique, thoughtful Christmas giftwhile there. (Photo by Kyle Thomas)

NATHAN DOUGLAS (’10) has enjoyed aprolific athletic and academic career atConcordia University in Nebraska. He wasrecently named to the 2013 Capital OneAcademic All-America® College DivisionMen’s Soccer first team. Nathan is part ofan exclusive list that recognized 11 men’ssoccer academic All-Americans. Thephysics major (mathminor) set Concordia’sprogram record for careergoals this season. Hecompleted his careerwith 43 goals overfour years, includinga career high 14 in2013.