Trent University’s Peter Gzowski College is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and the college’s principal Melanie Buddle is celebrating her own 20th anniversary of sorts.
Gzowski College’s two-decade milestone has an important connection to many areas of Buddle’s life, as the college was built not long after she began her career at Trent University and soon after settling into her life in Peterborough and becoming a mother — all factors that shape who she is today.
“It’s an interesting time for me because I have all these things going on in my life and lots of them are things I’ve been doing for years, but it does feel like a bit of a culmination of 20 years around Peterborough,” she says.
After growing up in Lakefield, Buddle left the region to study theatre and history at the University of Guelph before completing her master’s degree and PhD in British Columbia.
It took becoming a young mother to bring her back to Peterborough, where she finished her PhD while simultaneously raising a newborn. During this time, while parenting full-time, she also launched her professional career, beginning her trajectory at Trent University first as a course instructor, before moving into full-time work as an assistant professor, academic advisor, and then college principal.
“I like teaching, but I didn’t like all the other things that came with being an academic,” she recalls. “I liked being in an academic environment, I liked helping students, I liked working with students, I liked interacting, but not the archival work — writing another article or book was not really for me.”
It then would make sense that she ended up in the administrative role she did, as a principal where she continually helps students “figure out their path” by sitting with them one-on-one while still having a leadership role around the institution.
“It allows me to continue to support students but also make sure that a whole team in the college is supporting students and making sure they are getting what they need,” she says. “The job is super interesting because it’s right in between the administrative jobs at the university where you’re doing work for students but not interacting with them and the other jobs where you’re all frontline and you’re just doing appointment. I’m right in the middle and that’s what I love.”
While building her career, Buddle was also raising two kids who now, themselves, are not far from the age of the students she interacts with every day on the job. Both, however, have taken much different career paths as her daughter Taren Ginter is in Tokyo in Japan doing a master’s and PhD program in astrobiology while her son Cameron Ginter is in British Columbia in mountain adventure skills training.
With her husband Drew Ginter also working in the education sector as a teacher at James Strath Public School in Peterborough, you might think the couple would have encouraged both their kids to pursue higher education, but Buddle says that’s not the case.
“Post-secondary education is really important, but it’s not for everyone,” she says. “There’s a lot of things that young people can do that are on a different path. I do think that people going to university or college when they’re not ready can be much worse.”
Being unsure about her own career aspirations when she first entered post-secondary school helps her now connect with the students who come to her feeling embarrassed because they’re not sure what they want to do. Using her own experience, she assures them it’s okay to be in doubt and often suggests students explore their interests outside of academics through volunteering, work placements, employment, and joining teams.
“When students get involved outside their classes, that’s where they start to develop their passion and then they move into really interesting careers,” Buddle says. “A lot of students in our current era change their majors and change their mind along the way. I think that helps them land somewhere because when you figure out what you don’t like, then you start to figure out what you will like. I think they need to know they’re okay if they’re open to change.”
That’s where she says being in a place like Peterborough is beneficial.
“Peterborough is still pretty small, and Trent is definitely still small enough that people make great connections and then they find things they want,” she says. “It’s a really great incubator for people. I think the university is as well because we do allow for quite a bit of exploration in figuring out what you want to study.”
Now that her kids are all out of the nest, Buddle is spending more time getting immersed in that community and, after a couple of years as a board member of Peterborough’s ReFrame Film Festival, is now the chair of the non-profit organization that celebrated its own 20th anniversary last year.
Actively involved in the arts during the “explosion of culture, art, and theatre in Peterborough in the late ’80s,” Buddle wanted to meet the needs of her creative side.
“I’m really glad I got involved with ReFrame because I’ve met incredible people, both on the board and at the film screenings,” she says. “I’m sort of figuring out how to be out in the world a little bit more without being in the trenches of childcare, and getting involved in volunteer work and giving back to the community is a really nice way to do that.”
Also an avid cyclist, Buddle also joined forces with other cyclists in the community to form the Peterborough Derailleurs, and participates in the Ride to Conquer Cancer in support of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre every spring. Over 10 years, the group has raised over $250,000.
While the next chapter of her life will include more time for community involvement (though she assures she is not leaving any of her current responsibilities behind), she is eager to be celebrating some of the successes over the years with the 20th anniversary celebration of Gzowski College from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday (October 5), with the family of the college’s journalist namesake as special guests.
“I watched it being built,” says Buddle, reflecting on her time at the college. “I never would have guessed that I would be this engaged and involved in most of its history.”
Just as she thinks Peterborough is a great place for young people to find the connections that help them on their career paths, Buddle attributes the community to her own successes as a professional, mother, and community member over the past 20 years.
“I think there are a lot of women like me who, in a smaller town, end up knowing so many people,” she says.
“I think the size of this town and the passion you can have for a variety of different areas can really open a lot of really fun trajectories that get you engaged in the community.”
