On Sept. 18 and 19, Trinity Western University welcomed alumni and their families back to its Langley campus for Homecoming Weekend 2026, filling the University with generations of people connected by the same place, memories, and faith.
For some, returning to campus meant finding an old photograph in a yearbook. For others, it meant sitting across the table from a classmate they had not seen in decades, returning to chapel, stepping back into a classroom, or cheering for the Spartans from the gym once again.
At the Alumni Awards Dinner on Friday night, alumni were reminded that while a new generation was beginning to form its own memories at TWU, generations before them were returning with decades of stories to tell.
Lives shaped at TWU, now shaping the world
Homecoming Weekend opened Friday evening in Trinity Commons with the 2026 Alumni Awards Dinner, recognizing three stories of alumni living out TWU's vision to Think Truthfully, Act Justly, and Live Faithfully.
Sara Kraushar (’98) received the Think Truthfully Award for her leadership in Christian education. As head of schools for Heritage Christian Online School and Flex Academy, Kraushar leads a network that she said now includes 76 school leaders, 860 staff, and 9,000 students across British Columbia. Over its history, the school has served more than 70,000 students.
Rather than asking children to fit an existing educational model, she explained that her schools begin by asking what kind of education each learner needs and then seek to build a program around that child. Her approach is grounded in the Christian conviction that each learner is uniquely created by God.
The Act Justly Award went to Mandelena Chetty (’25). While still completing her undergraduate degree, Chetty began building Julie Chetty's Primary School of Love in Zambia, inspired by her late mother's history of service there. She had encountered classrooms with more than 70 students and children living near schools they could not afford to attend. Rather than leave that need behind when she returned to Canada, she went back and built something in response.
Today, the school serves more than 100 students and has a growing waitlist. For some children, it is their first opportunity to attend school. Chetty hopes to expand into higher grades and eventually bring her current studies in speech pathology into her work in the community.
Then came a story stretching back more than half a century.
Darwin and Darlis Anderson arrived at what was then Trinity Junior College in the 1970s, met at TWU, married, built a family, and eventually followed God's call into missions. What followed was more than 35 years of ministry. The Andersons recalled joining a missions organization with a staff of two and watching it grow to approximately 35 people serving across 25 or 26 countries. Their work has centred on discipleship, sharing the gospel, strengthening missionaries, and supporting people called to ministry.
Darwin offered the alumni gathered in the room a simple lesson from those decades: God is trustworthy.
A campus filled with old memories
By Saturday morning, Homecoming was in full swing across campus. Alumni gathered in the Robert G. Kuhn Centre for five reunions, reconnecting with classmates from Trinity Western College, the classes of 1996 and 2006, the School of Business, and the Master of Leadership Mandarin program.
Inside Trinity Commons, decades of University history came out of the archives for Memory Lane.
Old photographs, yearbooks, publications, clothing, and memorabilia gave alumni a chance to find pieces of the TWU they remembered. The display became a physical connection between the campus alumni once knew and the University they had returned to visit.
The nostalgia even became part of the humour Friday night, when alumni browsing the archival tables were jokingly told they were looking through the University's "lost and found."
Worshipping together again
Hundreds returned to the David E. Enarson Gymnasium Saturday morning for Praise Chapel, gathering again in worship and celebrating God's faithfulness across generations of TWU.
The chapel also recognized former president Dr. Neil Snider and his lasting impact on the University community.
From there, Homecoming became a campus-wide family gathering. Reimer Lawn filled with alumni and their families enjoying inflatables, games, face painting, campus tours, giveaways, and the high ropes course. An alumni choir brought familiar voices back to Trinity Commons, while alumni packed DeVries Auditorium for a special edition of TWU’s iconic 11:07 Improv, bringing laughter back to the stage, this time well before 11:07 p.m.
Homecoming also invited graduates back into the intellectual life of the University. During Alumni Learn, Dr. Kent Clarke explored Jesus' dialogue with Peter in John 21 and how the original Greek deepens the passage's understanding of love.
Later, President Todd F. Martin sat down with alumni to answer questions from the alumni community.
From one generation of Spartans to the next
By Saturday afternoon, the celebration shifted to Spartans athletics as the MEI Marching Band rallied alumni and families on Reimer Lawn before the crowd moved into the gym for the Alumni Legends women’s volleyball match, where former Spartans faced the current TWU women's volleyball team.
With alumni back on the court, families in the stands, giveaways, and the Alumni Baby Race, the final event captured what the weekend had been building toward: generations of TWU life occupying the same space again.
Homecoming Weekend made those lives visible. They were graduates educating thousands of children, a recent alumna building a school across the world, and a couple still serving God more than 50 years after meeting at Trinity Western. They were classmates laughing over old photographs, families worshipping together, former athletes returning to the court, and alumni introducing their children to the campus where their own stories began.
For one weekend, decades of memories met new moments.
About Trinity Western University
Founded in 1962, Trinity Western University is a global Christian liberal arts university dedicated to equipping students for life. Uniting faith and reason through Christian teaching and scholarship, TWU is a research institution offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in the humanities and sciences as well as in several professional schools. TWU has its main campus in Langley, B.C. and campus sites in Richmond, B.C. and Ottawa, Ont.
Learn more at twu.ca or follow @TrinityWestern on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. For media inquiries, please contact media@twu.ca.