Category Archives: What’s It Like at HDS?

Reflecting on My First Year at HDS

22 Friday May 2020

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Post by: Julia Reimann, MDiv ‘22 and Graduate Assistant 

As the year comes to a close, I find myself feeling immense gratitude for the classmates and courses of the first year of divinity school in all its complexity and challenge. This year has been a particularly unconventional first year: moving across the country, joining a new campus community, returning to school, completing the first semester and launching into second, and then returning home and completing the first-year virtually due to COVID-19. This year has been characterized by significant change and frequent transitions, a constant cycle of readjusting. Amidst all the change, my relationships with classmates in our MDiv cohort and throughout the HDS community have been vital to maintaining connection to my educational journey and community amidst the chaos. The small class sizes at HDS and our required first-year courses in the first semester helped to foster close relationships with peers, which have only grown throughout the year. 

Weekly events with community members became even more important to my schedule during second semester as the members of our first-year cohort moved to independently study our particular research interests. The food and time we shared outside of the classroom during Community Tea was a meaningful space to share our experiences with each other, maintain connection to deepen relationships, and grow together.  

Julia and friends perform at HDS’ annual mult-religious
Seasons of Light service //photo courtesy of HDS COMMUNICATIONS 
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Black Religion, Spirituality and Culture Conference at HDS

02 Tuesday Jul 2019

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Post by: Jarred Batchelor-Hamilton, MDiv student, DivEx Alum, HDS Admissions Graduate Assistant 

Editor’s Note: HDS students have the opportunity to plan conferences and events, among which is the annual Black Religion, Spirituality and Culture Conference (BRSCC). As an attendee of the conference, I can only admire the dedication of the students who planned it. Read on for a first-hand experience from one of these dedicated students, Jarred Batchelor-Hamilton (MDiv ’20). Jarred attended the first annual BRSCC during his participation in the 10th Annual Diversity and Explorations Program (DivEx) held over three days every fall at HDS. DivEx is geared towards undergraduate students like Jarred who have a commitment to social justice and diversity as well as an interest in exploring opportunities in the study of religion. As an active student on campus, Jarred has continued to support DivEx through volunteer work and has participated in the coordination of the BRSCC conference. Applications for the 2019 DivEx program will be available on our website in mid-July, here. I encourage you to explore this program, which is now in its 13th year. If you are accepted to the program, HDS covers the cost of your visit, including domestic travel to Cambridge from within the United States, housing, and meals. During the program, you will have the opportunity to meet current students, faculty, and staff, attend panels about best practices for the application, learn more about financial aid, sit in on classes, and so much more!  

Other conferences that have taken place in the past academic year and are planned mostly by HDS students include the Gross National Happiness Conference, Ways of Knowing, Sound Education, and the Buddhism and Race Conference. HDS students have also been involved in the planning of Harvard’s LGBTQ Conference.  

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So You Want to Write a Thesis?

10 Friday May 2019

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Post by: Natalie Solis, Current MTS Student, DivEx Alum, HDS Office of Admissions Graduate Assistant  

Solis Thesis 1
Activist Installation against Femicides, across the street from the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City. Photo by Natalie Solis.  

Coming to HDS, I knew that I wanted to write a master’s thesis as part of my MTS program even though it is optional and not required for MTS students, unlike the MDiv program. Since I enjoyed conducting independent research projects in college and will be applying to PhD programs in the fall, I decided that developing an extensive independent research project such as a master’s thesis would be a great opportunity to refine my research skills and prepare for a PhD.

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A Look Inside Shopping Week

15 Friday Feb 2019

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Post by: Tessa Steinert Evoy, MTS 2020, Office of Admissions Graduate Assistant

In this post, Tessa introduces “shopping week,” a Harvard tradition where students spend the first week of the semester “shopping” for classes they may want to take. Read on to learn more about how this process works and how students narrow down their classes from the countless courses offered to HDS students. 

Spring 2018
Looking forward to a blooming semester. Photo taken by Jonathan Beasley, HDS Office of Communications. 

I was very excited to have my second shopping experience this semester, using the things I learned from last semester to create the best schedule for me. It is always difficult to decide between all the terrific classes at HDS, and once you add in all the courses we can cross-register for, it becomes even harder. In this post, I’m going to share a few insights on how current HDS students plan for shopping week so you can get a feel for how it works and why it is advantageous despite the added pressure of shopping as many courses as you can. In the course of the week, we must shop all the courses we may want to take, meet with our academic advisor to talk about our study plan to receive their approval, and submit our schedule for the semester to the Registrar. It is quite a busy start to the semester, but also a great opportunity to explore classes you might not otherwise know you were interested in.

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January Term in Mexico City

08 Friday Feb 2019

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Post by: Natalie Solis, MTS 2020, HDS Admissions Graduate Assistant

We already published one post about J-Term Opportunities, but couldn’t resist sharing Natalie’s J-Term internship in Mexico City, during which she was able to make connections for her research interests in “artivism” across Mexico. Read on to learn more about artivism and to discover the sorts of resources and experiences available for students interested in Latin American and Latinx Studies at HDS.

Natalie 4 Teotihuacan
Photo of Teotihuacan from the top of the Moon Pyramid overlooking the Avenue of the Dead and Sun Pyramid. Photo taken by Natalie Solis.

During the January Term (J-Term), I spent three weeks interning at the VICE Media headquarters in Mexico City (also known as la CDMX, Ciudad de Mexico or el D.F., Distrito Federal) with the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS). DRCLAS hosts internships in Mexico City during the January and Summer terms, enabling a cohort of students to work and experience daily life in Mexico. Since I am interested in Latin American and Latinx Studies, I was searching for Harvard programs related to Latin America. Taking the HDS course “Moctezuma’s Mexico” with Professor Davíd Carrasco during the fall semester ignited my desire to visit Mexico City, so I was looking for J-Term opportunities to travel in Mexico (check out Professor Carrasco’s interview titled “Exploring Native America”). Since I am of Mexican descent and have familial ties in Mexico City, I was very eager to visit Mexico City for the first time. My J-Term was also personally significant because I had family and friends show me around Mexico City.

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J-Term Opportunities

05 Tuesday Feb 2019

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Post by: Tessa Steinert Evoy, MTS 2020, Office of Admissions Graduate Assistant

HDS students have the opportunity to enroll in winter term courses throughout Harvard, often referred to as J-Term. While HDS offers its own J-Term courses like Kerry Maloney’s “Comparative Monasticisms,” Tessa sought a course in the Harvard Graduate School of Education to supplement her studies at HDS and reinvigorate her passion for activist work. 

Winter snow and twilight at Andover Hall

A snowy Andover Hall. Photo taken by HDS Office of Communications. 

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“Pray and Play”: Spiritual Care Through the Lens of the Child

22 Monday Oct 2018

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Post by: Ben Freeman, MDiv 2020

Read on to learn about the intersection of play, experimentation, and the practical applications of an MDiv degree.

Mary Robinson, former Director of Chaplaincy at Boston Children’s Hospital, has said that “play is the spiritual work of childhood.” This thought, though sometimes missing the qualifier “spiritual,” runs through the work of many luminaries of child development and education, among them Jean Piaget, Maria Montessori, and (Mr.) Fred Rogers. This summer, while completing my first unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at Hebrew SeniorLife, concentrating on the spiritual care of LGBT elders, Robinson was a guest facilitator, presenting on developmentally appropriate spiritual care of children. Though I loved working with elders, my professional identity had always been based around children, and I found the guest session profoundly invigorating. The idea that among a chaplain’s many roles in a children’s hospital, one is to be the friend that temporarily allows kids to just be kids particularly resonated with me. In that moment several things clicked simultaneously: pediatric chaplaincy might be a powerful crucible in which to integrate my training as an educator and artist with my burgeoning identity as a spiritual care provider, pediatric chaplaincy a generative evolution of my long-standing love of kids.  Continue reading →

Summers of a Graduate Student

05 Thursday Jul 2018

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Post by: Jarred Hamilton, Master of Theological Studies (MTS), Women, Gender, Sexuality, and Religion; Graduate Assistant, HDS Office of Admissions.

Hi everyone! My name is Jarred Hamilton and I am the new Graduate Assistant for the summer in the Office of Admissions. I am originally from Raleigh, North Carolina and I majored in English and Art History at UNC Charlotte. I am going into my 2nd year of the MTS degree studying a combination of sexuality and medieval forms of sanctity in the high and late middle ages.

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Common Questions about the CSWR (and their answers!)

12 Friday Jan 2018

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While giving tours to prospective HDS students, I am sure to bring them to see the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR). However, even as a current student and a Graduate Assistant in the Office of Admissions, I felt that I did not know as much about the CSWR as I would have liked, so I arranged to meet with Dorie Goehring, the Staff Assistant at the CSWR. I was surprised to learn that Dorie graduated from HDS with a Master of Divinity in Islamic studies and theology in 2016. It is always great to hear how HDS Alums continue to support and engage the HDS community.

Read our conversation below to learn more about the CSWR! Continue reading →