Throughout the year, we feature Crandall alumni by sharing their stories. Alumni Success Stories usually check in with an alum who’s been away from Crandall for a while. These stories highlight some major milestones in the lives of alumni after leaving Crandall and give space for them to talk about how their time at Crandall influenced their lives during and after their studies.

Today’s Alumni Success Story features Kent Carter, who graduated in 2019 with a BA in Religious Studies.

Kent Carter

BA in Religious Studies, Class of ’19

My education and research at Crandall fit very well with the work I was doing with Teen Challenge Canada. So, immediately following my graduation in 2019, I continued to work as a Spiritual Formation Coach with Teen Challenge’s Atlantic Men’s Centre—a live-in rehabilitation centre for individuals struggling with substance addiction. My role here involved developing curriculums, teaching, coaching, pastoral care, and more. I had already been working here during my time at Crandall, and I was very interested in the field of addiction recovery because of its overlap with spiritual formation.

After graduating with a BA in Religious Studies, I continued my education and completed my masters in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics with the University of Birmingham. The subject ofmy dissertation was “Recovering Humanity: A faith-based framework for addiction treatment.“In addition, I continued as a pastor at the Life Source Church in Shediac, New Brunswick. In November of 2022, I moved into the role of Director at Teen Challenge’s Atlantic Men’s Centre.

During my time at Crandall, there was a focus on the integration of faith and learning. I found this to be a useful lens through which I have approached much of my life and work following my studies. I was impacted by several professors who not only taught with excellence, but also modeled Christian character and genuine care for me as a person. I have been pleased to maintain some connection with them as the years have gone by, and they still take a genuine interest in what I am doing, even though I have moved on from being in their classes. More than anything, they gave me confidence—not that I would ever have all the answers, but that I had something worthwhile to offer the world, whether that was to my friends or family, my work, or my community.