Alumni Weekend

Our alumni weekend has come and gone for another year. It was once again encouraging to see and hear from the current students and fellow alumni-what they are learning, their plans for the future and what they hope to see God do in their lives. We had some intentional time set for the various groups from similar eras of schooling to meet with each other and share about God's current work in our lives. While we as the committee do have some considerations to work through for where these groups meet, I think it was a good time of intentional connection. During our Reconnect meeting, we were able to make some changes to our alumni constitution to incorporate NBC Board members who have served for at least one year to now be officially recognized as Associate Alumni. So, we now welcome into our number those that have not had the privilege of attending as students, but have still been serving the school in a very meaningful way. Welcome.

We also voted in two new members of the Executive Committee. I want to thank Timothy Block ('14) and Melisa Willson ('93) for completing their term of service and welcome Raija Liisa Larson ('08) and Ben Hoess ('16) to the team.

The 2025 Alumnus of the Year awards were also presented during the Reconnect meeting. The Distinguished Service Toward NBC award was presented to Doug & Tina Kroeker ('96). And the Distinguished Faithfulness in Ministry was given to Sam and Pauline Doerksen ('87). You can read more about these awards and both couples' faithful ministry on the NBC website: https://nipawin.org/alumnus-of-the-year/.

We voted on four projects that were presented, with the top vote going towards sound treatment for the gym. Currently, the quality of sound in the gym does not make for an ideal place to host the large events like Doxa (formerly three60five) or Cantata, so the sound treatment should see improvement for these events. During the weekend we raised $8551.00 towards the project. Through additional funds that came after we should be able to complete the other three projects (which had a three-way tie of votes!): Installing a bathroom in the shop, purchasing new audio/visual equipment, and a land plane for grading the roads.

The music was provided by Josh Bondoc ('17, staff) and his team at the Sunday morning service as well as worship night which also included testimonies from students and alumni. Both events gave a chance for us to worship together. We were encouraged to think about the words that we were singing and make them into an honest declaration to God. We also got to hear from Dean Block (past board chairman) who spoke on Sunday.

Joshua Nickel
Alumni President

2025 Alumni of the Year

2025 Alumnus of the Year Award for Distinguished Service to NBC: Doug & Tina Kroeker

2024 Alumnus of the Year award for Distinguished Faithfulness in Ministry: Sam & Pauline Doerksen

To read more, proceed to the Alumnus of Year page.

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