Alumni Weekend

Well, I guess this Alumni Weekend you could say I was the one to take the cake. Or rather, I took the pie, in the face. Thank you to Jason Elford and Michael Toovey for the amazing cakes from this year’s Presidential Pie Challenge. For those of you who weren’t able to attend this year’s Alumni Weekend, here are some other takeaways from the 2024 weekend.

We had a total of 125 alumni come, and a whole slew of kids for a total attendance of about 200. We started off the weekend with a Stuco-led Coffee House, and inflatables in the gym. Once the kids were occupied in the gym with games and toys for all ages, supervised by our awesome childcare volunteers, weekend attendees were able to split off in groups for Alumni Network. For my first time as an alumnus I was able to partake in this event, and enjoyed the intentional time of talking and sharing with other alumni.

Saturday morning saw the annual soccer match, with the NBC student team taking back the crown from the alumni. Next year you guys are going down. Saturday continued with various activities planned including a couple of excellent workshops, the silent auction, Reconnect Meeting and Obah Night. Saturday closed off with a time of praise and worship and testimonies, led by James and Karina Witherow. Sunday morning we woke up to breakfast and headed back to the gym for our Sunday morning service with Gordon Rowland joining us as our guest speaker.

Now for the numbers. Hats off to the 13 late registrants for contributing $130 in late registration fees to our grand total! The silent auction brought in $2320, the Pie Challenge gathered $3733 in total, and other donations throughout the weekend brought in an additional $3535 for a grand total of $9718! This means we were able to cover the first Alumni Project of a reverse osmosis water system and drinking fountain to be installed in the Rempel Auditorium foyer for $5500 with an additional $4218 going towards an additional set of basketball hoops and backboards in the gym. Thank you everyone for your generous donations to NBC once again.

It has been a pleasure serving as the Alumni President these past 2 years, and I will miss the role in many ways. But I am glad to pass on this responsibility to Josh Nickel, and I’m excited to see what the executive under his leadership will do.

Benjamin Thiessen
Alumni President

2024 Alumni of the Year

2024 Alumnus of the Year Award for Distinguished Service to NBC: Ken & Louise Leonard

2024 Alumnus of the Year award for Distinguished Faithfulness in Ministry: Gordon & Carole Sawatzky

To read the bios for Ken & Louise and Gordon & Carole, proceed to the Alumnus of Year page.

Dear Alumni,

Firstly, I would just like to offer a huge thank you to all of the alumni that attended this year’s Alumni Weekend. We saw about 190 alumni and alumni kids storm NBC campus, and enjoyed a fantastic weekend of activities and visiting. I would also like to thank all those alumni who helped make the weekend a success. Set-up and clean-up before and after various events was smooth, thanks to a lot of willing volunteers.

Throughout the weekend we were able to hear from a variety of speakers. Dean Block (Chairman of NBC board) and Natalie Driedger (senior student) shared their testimonies during Friday’s worship night. In the workshops on Saturday we had the privilege to hear from Wes Fehr, Lindsay Anderson and Jordan Bergen as they spoke on their respective topics. Wes Fehr also brought the message during our Sunday morning service. We also enjoyed the musical talents of Wyatt Reader, Cydnie Klassen, Darwin Harder, Campbell Tieszen, and Reagan Harder as they lead music during the weekend.

Each year, three projects are selected, representing needs found on the college campus. Alumni vote on a project to “purchase” for NBC and all fundraising from the weekend goes towards that end. This year’s projects were new windows in house #11 ($3000), furnishing the lounge in the new Snider Hall ($10 000), or the primer, paint, and ceiling texture for new Snider Hall ($8000). Alumni in attendance this year blew us away, raising a total of $17 740 throughout the weekend easily covering the widows, the lounge furnishings and leaving a considerable chunk to go towards painting the new dorm. Thank you to everyone who helped make that happen, and praise God for generous the hearts he has placed in the alumni of NBC.

Alumnus of the year awards were given to Stan Masich and Janet Harms Masich for Distinguished Service to Nipawin Bible College and Tony and Janet Ens were awarded the Distinguished Faithfulness in Ministry Award. For a bio on each couple and their response, please visit the Alumni page on nipawin.org.

Finally, I want to encourage alumni to pray for NBC. Pray for the staff as they run the college and teach the students God’s Word. Pray for the students as they learn, that it will impact their hearts as they learn to live for Christ. Pray for the Board of Directors as they prayerfully seek to lead the college and make decisions for the future on NBC. Lastly, pray for fellow alumni, and encourage each other in the Lord. See you all again next year!

Benjamin Thiessen

Alumni President

2023 Alumni of the Year

2023 Alumnus of the Year Award for Distinguished Service to NBC: Stan Masich & Janet Harms Masich

2023 Alumnus of the Year award for Distinguished Faithfulness in Ministry: Tony & Janet Ens

To read the bios for Stan & Janet and Tony & Janet, go to the Alumnus of Year page.

Thank you to everyone who came out to this year’s Alumni Weekend! I hope you enjoyed seeing friends and possibly family as much as I did. Despite having many students and staff feeling under the weather it turned out very well! We had close to 190 alumni and kids of alumni attend! We had soccer and basketball, the silent auction, coffee house, craft, Alumni Reconnect, worship night, talent show, Obah Night and many more activities. Thanks to the workshop leaders, Morgan Allen, Jorden Bergen, Lorenda Friesen, Melisa Willson, and Makenna Abrahamson for your preparation and willingness to teach. The hard work of the staff, students, and alumni is the only way these events are able to happen!

The Reconnect meeting was filled with very important and entertaining information! We were able to recognize our Alumni of the Year through the two awards, “Dedicated Service to NBC” and “Faithfulness in Ministry”. Respectively Kendell and Melisa Willson, and Ed and Ruth Peters. Our Alumni Executive election resulted in Ben Theissen as the new Alumni President and Jeralee Hamata as the new addition to the Alumni Executive. We voted on this years alumni projects with the winner being NBC Events Package (new stage lighting and 40 vinyl mattresses). Our goal to fundraiser for that project was set at $9000. I am very grateful to announce that we were able to exceed our goal for that project and raise a total of $10961!

I am looking forward to continuing to participate in the work that takes places at NBC and I would encourage you to come and see how God is using this place. It would be excellent for the new Alumni President and Executive to have an abundance of willing Alumni to continue to make Alumni Weekend a success! I challenge you to ask God what you can do to support the ministry at NBC and then be willing to listen to His response!

- Joshua Lees -

2022 Alumni of the Year

2022 Alumnus of the Year Award for Distinguished Service to NBC: Kendall & Melisa Willson ('96)

2022 Alumnus of the Year award for Distinguished Faithfulness in Ministry: Ed & Ruth Peters ('84)

To read the bios for Kendall & Melisa and Ed & Ruth, go to the Alumnus of Year page.

Hello Alumni! In case you were not able to attend this last year’s Alumni Weekend I hoped to share a few highlights.

We had a good turn out this year and raised a total of $9,738.50 toward this years Alumni Project: 4-plex cabinetry. We are grateful for the alumni who came and gave toward NBC. We had excellent speakers, drawing from our newer staff members at NBC.

Many Alumni stated that the newest activity, “The Alumni Network” was a very useful and enjoyable part of the weekend. We split up as small groups, according to years attended, to talk intentionally about what is going on in our lives. Struggles and joys were brought forward with time to pray over each other. This activity encompassed what we as the Alumni Executive get excited to hear about and we are glad it was taken advantage of by the Alumni in attendance.

I want to acknowledge our Alumni of the Year awards for 2021. We recognized Stephen Epp (NBC ’10) for Dedicated Service to NBC, and Terry & Rosie Banman (NBI ’88) for Faithfulness in Ministry. Thank you to all Alumni who are persistent in using their God-given gifts in service to Him."

Josh Lees, Alumni President

Dear Alumni

Though our 2020 Alumni Day looked different than previous Alumni Weekends there is much to be encouraged by!  Thankfully it took place just before even tighter Covid restrictions came into place - with roughly 40 alumni in person (and a handful tuning in online) for the events of the day. 

Julie Fehr, our Alum Exec Vice President led the Reconnect Meeting.  Jason Elford (Staff Liaison) performed a plethora of duties as he always does, also navigating the difficulties of streaming the Alumni Day for those who could not attend but still wanting to take part in the day.  The other Alumni Executive (Crystal Pelletier, Joshua Nickel, Jordan Lepine) also helped the day come together with planning, brainstorming, and hands on work.

The Alumni Project chosen was a much needed Paper Folder for the NBC office.  And  despite a small group compared to normal years, we were able to raise $3400!

We thank Crystal Pelletier for her investment as she finished her time on the Exec this November.  The alumni voted for Anne Giesbrecht to join our team.  Anne brings a wealth of experience, passion for NBC, and some history, having attended NBI in the early 80’s.

Sincerely,

Josh Lees

Dear Alumni

I would like to give a summary of this year’s Alumni Weekend that just happened November 22-24. First, I’d like to thank everyone who was involved helping. This was done through preparation for leading music and workshops, helping decorate, making desserts, setting up chairs and tables for workshops and Obah Nite, organizing various activities, and so much more! Second, thanks to those who donated time, money, and items for the silent auction. Lastly, thanks to all who attended and for your effort to reconnect with the NBC family. We had about 160 registrations for the weekend! Without the Alumni’s prayer and desire to see God’s work done, this weekend would have been fruitless. Personally I was challenged and encouraged through the weekend and I hope that was the case for every attendee.

A tangible way we can praise God is for $15 000 raised to fund our Alumni Project.

This will cover replacing all the 21-year old mattresses in both dorms! What a blessing to students for years to come. It is exciting to see that accomplished through the generous giving of the Alumni who have been moved by God to give. Let’s not limit our giving to merely Alumni Weekend. Even small monthly donations to NBC’s general fund are pivotal to the provision of the quality education that you may have experienced as Alumni and for NBC to continue to serve its students moving forward. Perhaps you’d consider joining Many Hands this year?! Perhaps there are practical hands-on ways you could bless NBC this current year if you have time, skill, or ability to serve that way. Reach out to NBC and let them know you’d like to serve. There is no task too small or donation too little to honour God and bring Him glory.

Please reserve the later weekends of November 2020 and plan to attend Alumni Weekend next fall! Here’s the new Executive who will work to plan next year’s event — Joshua Nickel (’08), Crystal Pelletier (’01), Julie (nee Desharnais) Fehr (’15) Jordan Lepine (’14), and myself (’15). Jason Elford (’95) continues to serve as liaison between NBC and our Exec.

Sincerely,

Josh Lees

Dear Alumni

I would like to thank everyone who showed up for Alumni weekend November 23-25. With over 160 alumni registered, in my understanding it may have been the largest regular Alumni Weekend we’ve ever hosted at NBC. Facilities manager Kendall Dyck has even been considering if there needs to be some sort of cap for the weekend moving forward — what an exciting problem. Space and numbers aside, I hope it was rewarding and refreshing for those in attendance. For those unable to attend, here were some of the highlights.

The last regularly scheduled weekend hockey challenge happened this year. I know that’s maybe a bitter feeling for some. But with the numbers of students who play hockey each year dwindling (even with full capacity student numbers) and the fact that Alumni Weekend often attracts more recent alumni, we were faced with a reality of the hockey teams getting smaller and smaller each year. With an announcement of this being “the last annual game” numbers were up significantly, and there can likely be a game inserted from time to time over future years. It felt sweet to see the Alumni team to the last challenge.

The soccer tournament was well received and many played Saturday morning. We had well attended workshops which were each practical to life and spiritual growth, and the Saturday AM craft was so well received (wooden signs) we’ll need to move it to the library next fall to accommodate for space. Obah night on Saturday saw a gym full of 260+ people (with alumni, students, staff, and lot of children!) and a great meal enjoyed together. The “President’s Pie Challenge is part of that and I ended up losing and finding myself with a face full of whipped cream from Interim President Jason Elford. That’s the second time I’ve been pied as Alumni President and never once was I able to enjoy pieing someone else in my 4 years, but who’s keeping track?! I’m excited to share we raised enough money over the weekend to pay for replacing the original Hobart mixer in the kitchen - which was on its very last legs - for a cost of roughly $12,000. On Sunday morning, Larry Rempel preached from Hebrews about finishing the race well as we wrapped up the weekend! You can read weekend details and Alumni of the Year write-ups (Dennis & Hannah Kroeker and Darryl & Denise Rice) at www.nipawin.org.

This is the last letter as Alumni President. as Josh Lees officially takes over the role. It’s been a enjoyable and rewarding experience watching the sacrifice of students, staff, board members and alumni serving at NBC. I encourage you to welcome and help Josh Lees in his new role, along with Crystal Pelletier and Allan Klippenstein who will be joining Shelby Desharnais and Joshua Nickel as the current Alumni Exec. I wish you all a Happy New Year. Remember to keep the NBC in your prayers as January is always a month full of students travelling for their ministry practicums.

Sincerely,

Kyle Larson

Highlights of the weekend:

1)Raised a record $20,495 alumni projects for the year:
-Replacing the 57yr old main range hood and oven
-Replacing the 16yr old main Hobart dishwasher

2)Alumni bursaries ($500 per student):
-Emily Reimer, Myles Abrahamson, Colton Abrahamson, Benjamin Steppan

3)New Alumni Executive members voted in:
-Shelby Desharnais, and Joshua Nickel

4)Dave and Sharon Dyck were main speakers

5)Alumni of the Year for 2017:
-Manfred and Stella Neff for Distinguished Faithfulness in Ministry
-Dave and Marsha Reimer for Distinguished Service to NBC

6)Well attended and relevant workshops, incredible afternoon coffee house run by Reneil Larson and the overtime win by the NBC staff/students hockey team.