Jo Venditelli is a second-year MDiv student at HDS studying political, queer, and disability philosophy. In this article they reflect on the community and support they've found at HDS. They share their journey to HDS, from DivEX to a year of virtual-learning to setting foot on campus this fall.

For many HDS students, art is a prominent feature of their exploration of the study of religion and ministry. Whether it's catching a lecture by a favorite artist, performing for fellow HDS community members, or keeping up with the latest from HDS’s literary publications, there are opportunities to weave creativity into the Divinity School experience at every corner. 

If you are like me, you have activities and projects outside of your academic work that are important to you. For me it is music, but yours could be writing, running, or any number of other non-academic pursuits you are passionate about. We all know how busy and stressful academic commitments can get during the semester. No matter what your extracurricular activity is, it is important that you find to time to keep up with it, even in graduate school. Here are some ideas on how to still prioritize your personal projects while balancing schoolwork. 

Congratulations! You’ve made the wonderful decision to join the HDS community this Fall. This is an exciting step towards reaching your academic and personal goals. As you begin to prepare for this transition to graduate study, here are some things to keep in mind. 

Due to the pandemic, HDS made the difficult decision of continuing remote learning for fall and spring semester this year. In this post, HDS student, Malini Srikrishna, highlights the resilience and strength of the HDS community despite the challenge of distance.  

To celebrate the beginning of classes for the 2020-21 Academic Year, we decided to ask some current HDS students to write about their favorite things about HDS. Most of these paragraphs have to do with community at HDS, so we want to acknowledge how difficult it is for us all to be apart this semester. We’re hoping we can be back in person soon, and we’re excited to work on building community digitally this fall. Please enjoy reading about their favorite courses, communities, and experiences so far.

This is the final post in our three-part series introducing you to incoming students! These students have come to HDS to explore everything from Buddhist chaplaincy to grief in South Asian traditions. This week, HDS students have officially finalized their schedules and are getting ready for the semester! We wish all these incoming students a happy first semester at HDS. This is part three of a three-part series—you can also read part one and part two. 

This post is part two of our three-part series that showcases incoming students. As we’re posting this article, these incoming students are beginning shopping week, during which students are welcome to drop in to as many classes as they want before they finalize their schedules for the semester. This is part two of a three-part series—you can also check out part one and part three.

We had such an impressive collection of applicants this year, so we’re launching a three-part series to introduce you to some members of our incoming class! We’re publishing this post to celebrate student orientation, which is happening online this week. During student orientation—online or in person—students have the opportunity to get to know their fellow classmates, explore student organizations, and meet their faculty advisors. This is part one of a three-part series—you can also check out part two and part three.

Kerry Maloney has served the HDS community since 2004 as HDS Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life and, prior to this role, as the Associate Director of Ministry Studies. In this particular moment, we thought it would be helpful to hear from the HDS Chaplain about the different ways the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life has responded to the challenges present in the work of our community today. If you are in need of some spiritual resources, we encourage you to explore the “Spiritual Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic” created by RSL.