Peter Gzowski College has hosted Enwayaang: An Event About Extraordinary Ideas since 2011. The popular annual event has featured dozens of student-nominated instructors speaking about ideas they are passionate about. Topics range from academic research to family histories - love, poetry, birds, climate change and much more.

When the pandemic began, Peter Gzowski College changed gears and decided to pilot a weekly online series of extraordinary talks with extraordinary guests.

According to College principal, Dr. Melanie Buddle, "When the speakers are passionate and engaging, the online platform can be too. These discussions became one of our best uses of Zoom and our series opened up amazing participation from community members, alumni, and others who could not always come to campus to hear a speaker."

Speakers and attendees at the Enwayaang talks have zoomed in from across the country, and, in some cases, from international locations as well. 

Enwayaang is an Anishinaabemowin word that means 'the way we speak together.' “We take that quite literally and encourage our students, staff, faculty, and any other guests who wish to join, to speak together with our guests and with each other,” said Dr. Buddle. “By continuing to host the series, the College continued the Enwayaang tradition of being informative, short, passionate, and engaging.”

This year, attendees can look forward to talks given by Ron Kronstein, Saga Williams, Mehrangiz Monsef, and Professor Nadège Compaoré, among others.

Students can register for the first Enwayaang of the season – a session on Re-Entry Anxiety and how to manage it, happening Thursday, September 23. This discussion will provide some strategies from Trent University crisis response counsellor, Riley Farquhar and Trent Psychology professor Dr. Lisa Nisbet.

Learn more about this year’s guest speakers and register for upcoming talks.

If you would like to view recordings of the Enwayaang talks from last year, you can view them on the Peter Gzowski College website.