Tag Archives: Community Tea

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’ multi-religious  Seasons of Light service //photo courtesy of HDS COMMUNICATIONS 
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Why was HDS the right fit for you?

16 Wednesday Oct 2019

Posted by in Why I Chose HDS

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Editor’s Note: Here in the Office of Admissions, one of the most common questions we hear is, “How can I write a strong statement of purpose?” One thing strong statements of purpose tend to do is show how HDS is the right place for them to do the work they hope to pursue. Strong statements of purpose also tend to tell us about the applicant’s general background information, how this background has prepared them for graduate study at HDS, and their vocational or career objectives. We also want to emphasize that because our applicants have such diverse goals and interests, and because our programs are so flexible, there is no singular type of applicant who would be the “right fit” for HDS. Rather, we’re looking for applicants to show us how HDS is the right fit for you! 

You can learn more about the details of the statement of purpose here. To help you brainstorm for your statment of purpose, we’ve gathered a collection of current HDS students who’ve told us about why they chose HDS.  

Mary Perez (MDiv ‘22): I’ve found a space that honors and supports the integration of my intellectual and spiritual life. In the HDS community, I am free to be myself⁠—in the complexity of my identity, in my questions about my faith tradition, and in my wonderings about how to live my vocation.

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Transforming Andover into Swartz Hall

25 Thursday Jul 2019

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Post by: Mikaela Allen, MTS ’19, HDS Office of Admissions Graduate Assistant 

Editor’s Note: As some of you may have heard, Andover Hall, newly named Swartz Hall, is undergoing an extensive and much-needed renovation thanks in large part to a generous gift from the Swartz family and the continued dedication of HDS staff. Read on to learn more about the goals of the renovation and how it will affect the daily life of the HDS community in the interim. While most of our posts feature student voices, this post will introduce you to a few staff members on campus and what they perceive as the long-term benefits of the renovation project. For updates on the process, Ralph DeFlorio, HDS’s Director of Operations, regularly updates this blog dedicated to the progress of the renovation. Click here for an extensive interview with Ralph about the renovation project. Please note that as part of the renovation, the HDS Office of Admissions has moved to the first floor of Divinity Hall. 

  • Andover Hall as of June 2019. Students will not have access to Andover during construction. Andover Harvard Theological Library will remain open during the renovation. Photo by Mikaela Allen.
  • Braun Room, Andover Hall, 2016. Weekly Community Tea takes place here and will continue in the interim space. Photo by Evgenia Eliseeva.
  • Sperry Room, Andover Hall. After 2013 renovations. The only traditional lecture hall on HDS’s campus. Photo by Jonathan Beasley.
  • Andover Chapel. Weekly Noon Service takes place here and will continue in another space during the renovation. Photo by Evgenia Eliseeva.
  • Winter windows of Andover Hall. Photo by Kristie Welsh.
  • Andover Harvard Theological Library. Accessible during renovation. Photo by Kristie Welsh.
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Formally Informal: On Community Tea and HDS Student Life

30 Thursday Oct 2014

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Working for Student Life as a Graduate Assistant has a lot of perks. My office is right near the candy bowl and upstairs from the coffee and tea room; I also get to be one of the first ones to know about upcoming programs. However, my favorite part of working for the Office of Student Life is helping to plan and attending Community Tea every Tuesday at 4pm. Community Tea is a 30-year-old tradition. Each week a different office or organization hosts, and as part of my job I get to work with them to plan their tea.

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HUUMS

14 Wednesday May 2014

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Some HUUMSers join in a group hug

Some HUUMS-ers join in a group hug

When I applied to Harvard Divinity School, I didn’t know anything about the strong Unitarian Universalist history woven into the foundation of the school. I was raised UU, and considered that to be one of many descriptors I used to identify myself, but finding a place with an active UU community was not on my list when looking at graduate programs. When I attended the HDS admitted students day, the Harvard Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Students (HUUMS) hosted a get-together after Community Tea. I joined them, figuring that it was a good way to meet people and because I wanted to be involved in student organizations, more than out of a need for a religious community. It was a beautiful spring day and we sat outside on the grass and talked about nothing in particular. I didn’t know it at the time but I was meeting many of the people who would become my closest friends at HDS. Continue reading →

Inimitable Opportunities

02 Wednesday Apr 2014

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Photo credit: Chris Alburger

Congratulations on your acceptance to Harvard Divinity School! Discerning program “fit,” in light of my scholarly and personal interests, was easy for me. I entered HDS with personal conviction, very much in alignment with the HDS mission, to foster a global culture of mutual understanding, respect, and goodwill—a culture in which people of every religion and culture coexist and work together in peace. I knew that the MTS program would help me to critically engage my understanding of my Catholic faith and learn more about powerful and interdependent cultural, political and social forces, as I endeavor to help implement empirically and cultural-linguistically based policies and programs centered on access to equitable health care and education for all.

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A Special Place

21 Friday Mar 2014

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Mosaic. Photo by Katelynn Carver

Mosaic. Photo by Katelynn Carver

To be honest, when I came to HDS for admitted students day I was looking for excuses not to come here.  I had just graduated from Emory and received a job offer to stay there and work.  I was afraid to leave my comfort zone filled with friends, relationships, and work.  But I knew I couldn’t just turn down Harvard without a good reason, so I decided to come to the Admitted Students Day and find a reason why HDS was not for me.  The quickest way to do that, I realized, was to discover that there was no real community here and, thus, it was not a place where I could be successful.

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Spiritual Community at HDS

25 Monday Nov 2013

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Walking the Labyrinth during the HDS Fall Retreat. Photo by Chris Alburger

I see Harvard Divinity School as a spiritual community, within which there are many distinct spiritual communities. HDS is full of kind, caring, altruistic people, because that’s who the school attracts. Classmates, faculty, and staff have all ministered to me and supported me through difficult times. I often have conversations with people that inspire or challenge me to be my best self (like a good sermon). The Divinity School, like we say at my church, is “a place where we practice being human.”

Community Tea on Tuesday afternoons is like “Coffee Hour” at church to me. It’s when Continue reading →