Nurse Rita says goodbye to TWU
Loewen offers final advice to students
December 6, 2006
Iain Cook and Chris Keith
After almost eight years of acting as Trinity Western University’s on campus nurse, at the end of this semester Rita Loewen will wave goodbye to a job she has loved.
With seemingly limitless energy, Nurse Rita, as she is affectionately known to students, has been a dynamic presence on campus, challenging perceptions of sex and love, and offering level-headed gems of advice with a conviction that has earned students’ trust and respect.
But, according to Loewen, all good things must come to an end, and the time to close the door on her “perfect job” has come.
It was with a somber mixture of joy and disappointment that Mars’ Hill sat down to ask Loewen about her departure.
Shedding a tear or two while discussing her plans to leave, Loewen said her job at TWU could not have been more perfectly suited to who she is.
“I’ve always had wings to fly,” she said, “but [here] I soared.”
She was emphatic that she has absolutely loved her time at TWU, and said that the students here have given her more energy than she has given to them.
However, she said that having a job that was so perfectly suited for her, she always hoped that she would know when it was the right time to leave. She believes that time is now.
Asked why she felt this way, Loewen cited both personal and professional reasons. Her departure, she said, is not because of any one thing, but is the result of the accumulation of various factors that have led her to believe her season here is ending.
According to Loewen, her time here has been “amazing,” and TWU has let her speak about “even the most taboo subjects.” But she is leaving with a sense that she is passing the torch to others to continue the good work that God has done through her, she said.
While she doesn’t have any concrete plans for the new year, Loewen offered some parting words of wisdom on life and love to the students of TWU. She urged students to listen to Paul’s first letter to Timothy, in which he writes that no one is to look down on youth because of their age.
With a passion in her voice, she lamented that so many students are so hard on themselves. We are young, she said, we are going to make mistakes, but don’t allow yourself to become defined by them.
She added that God does not define students by their mistakes, and neither should students.
As well, Loewen applauds those who feel that they have lived a boring life, void of a drugs-and-sex testimony. She wants everyone to know that they have a good story to tell and they are not to be embarrassed to tell it.
Loewen offered some final advice: “The two most important things in your life are figuring out what you believe and deciding who you marry.”
Make it a wise choice, she advised, and then take the risk to love.
Now you go...
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We will all miss Nurse Rita. Join her Facebook group here: http://twuca.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2222829353