Tag Archives: Community

Reflections on What HDS Has Taught Me

24 Wednesday Mar 2021

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Editor’s Note: We know hearing from current students is one of the best ways to learn about what HDS has to offer. For this post, we asked one of our graduating students to reflect on her time at HDS and what lessons she’ll take with her as she moves on to the next step in life.  

Post by Madeline Levy, MTS ’21 (Area of Focus: Religion, Ethics, and Politics)

Madeline reading on set // Photo Courtesy of Madeline Levy

 

My name is Madeline, and I am a second-year MTS student with a focus in Religion, Ethics, and Politics. And, wow, these two years have really flown by! It is so hard to believe that I’m already in a position to be “reflecting” on my time at HDS.  

I am originally from Port Townsend, WA and received my BA from Whitman College, where I majored in Religious Studies. After graduating, I worked in opera stage management at a variety of companies around the country. While that career brought me much joy, I came to deeply miss the academic study of religion: the discussions, the material, and the depth. In my application process, I was drawn to HDS in particular for its pluralistic approach to the study of religion as well as for the institutional emphasis on ethical action, compassionate community, and rigorous academics.  

As I prepared to begin my time at HDS, friends and family kept telling me what a journey graduate study was and how much they had changed during their degree programs. It isn’t that I didn’t believe them, but I just didn’t spend too much time reflecting on how I might change. I expected that I would learn a lot about religion and find a warm, thoughtful community. In that way, HDS has been exactly what I expected, though I didn’t–or couldn’t–imagine the growth that I would experience in these two years.  

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Five Lessons I Learned My First Semester at HDS

24 Wednesday Feb 2021

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Editor’s Note: Last fall our first year HDS students made the decision to join our community amid uncertainty brought on by a global pandemic. In this post, MDiv student, Cassie Montenegro, shares some of the lessons she learned in her first semester at HDS.  

Post by Cassie Montenegro MDiv’23 

Photo Courtesy of Cassie Montenegro

Like some of you, I found myself applying to divinity school after taking a less than linear route. I’m a trained attorney, experienced teacher, and former TEDx organizer. I am also a queer cis-gendered Cuban American woman who was raised on café con leche, the Rosary, and Tibetan chanting. And I am a first year MDiv with a penchant for Religion and Literature and a love of sacred space. However, it took me about six and a half years to muster the courage to apply to Harvard Divinity School. As I find myself a few weeks into my second semester, I would do well to remind myself of the lessons learned last semester about the Harvard community, about student life on Zoom, and about myself. 

  1. There is no “right time” or “wrong time” to go to Divinity school. Although joining the HDS community would quickly prove one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, when the time came to leave a profession I loved, to begin a new vocation amidst a global pandemic, the decision was not an easy one. Should I try to defer? Take a reduced course-load? However, the more I networked with and spoke to other current and admitted students, especially those within my Unitarian Universalist faith tradition, I knew I had found my people, my place. 
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Celebrating the HDS Community!

26 Tuesday Jan 2021

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Editor’s Note: 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.  

Post by Malini Srikrishna MTS’21 

Photo Courtesy of Malini Srikrishna

We finally made it! I want to affirm and explore the confusion all current HDS students felt last semester because we were forced to be together and experience love in ways that were unfamiliar. I write this to record the monumental ability that has been displayed so all those who come after us can read this and enter with the hope of unrestricted possibilities. During the past year of being students and teachers during a global pandemic, our community displayed a remarkable commitment to being open to new experiences that have only become better over awkwardness, laughter and time. As has often been advised for endeavors such as this — it has been a time to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

12 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by in Considering HDS

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Editor’s Note: For this blog post, we wanted to highlight some of the questions we receive most often in the Ask Students inbox. If you don’t see your question here, we encourage you to reach out to the Admissions Graduate Assistants. 

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I do not have experience in religious studies, is there a place for me at HDS?  

At HDS, we admit students from a diverse range of academic backgrounds. We receive many applications from individuals who have not completed coursework in religious studies and theology. In these cases, the Admissions Committee pays attention to previous coursework in the humanities and social sciences and to the applicant’s demonstrated interests and qualifications. If your work in the humanities and social sciences is limited, you might want to consider enrolling in a course in the field to demonstrate that you are prepared to do graduate-level work in religion. Make sure to use your statement of purpose as an opportunity to demonstrate how your past academic and professional experiences have uniquely prepared you for graduate study in the field of religion. 

My interests overlap with both the MDiv and MTS program, which one should I apply for?  

We receive numerous emails from students who find that both the MTS and the MDiv align with their academic interests. Both degrees will prepare you for a variety of career paths as well as PhD programs. There are some logistical differences between the two programs and the best way to get a snapshot of the two is to look at the comparison chart of the two programs here. We also have recorded panels on both the MDiv and MTS degree programs that you can check out here. We would recommend that you pay extra attention to the MDiv requirements. The MDiv requires a field education component that is optional for the MTS program. Does Field Education feel like an important part of what you want out of divinity school? We’d also recommend asking yourself if you would be interested in courses that involve reflecting on the meaning of ministry and your own personal relationship with religion/spirituality.  If so, then the MDiv might be a better option for you. 

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What’s at Stake? Important Questions to Consider at DivEx, HDS, and Beyond

26 Monday Oct 2020

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Post by Nathan Samayo

Editor’s Note: This week at HDS we are hosting our annual Diversity and Explorations (DivEx) event, which is a 3-day introduction to Harvard Divinity School and the programs we offer. DivEx is geared towards current undergraduates from underrepresented backgrounds who are interested in exploring divinity school. In this post, former DivEx participant and current HDS student, Nathan Samayo, reflects on his personal and academic background and how participating in the DivEx program has impacted his journey at HDS. 

What a critical time it is to be applying to Harvard Divinity School. A contentious election creeps around the corner whose result could either continue America’s dissonance to its long history of anti-Black racism and xenophobia, or a result that will, as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, “let our democracy live another day.” We see on our local and social medias the uprisings from marginal communities and allies who denounce state-sanctioned violence, white supremacy that has seeped into every facet of public life, and the legacy of colonialism that altered the land that white America now occupies. We are becoming products of a historical moment where a pandemic has and continues to alter our ordinary lives, bringing to light how broken America’s systems of education, economy, and healthcare have been operating. All these issues and realities ask a similar question—what is at stake? What values and ethics guide us as we advocate and protest for new tangible conditions in hopes of a reconciled world? These questions will be asked to you if you decide to come to Harvard Divinity School, a community committed to transforming you into the change agent you want to be. 

Photo Courtesy of Nathan Samayo
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Interview with Margaret Okada-Scheck, Associate Director of Admissions

01 Thursday Oct 2020

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Post by Margaret Okada-Scheck, Associate Director of Admissions 

Editor’s Note: Meet Margaret, the HDS Associate Director of Admissions! Margaret has a wide range of responsibilities in the office, including leading the planning for our Diversity and Explorations Program, an opportunity for current undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds to learn more about the programs offered at HDS. Below you can read about Margaret’s dedication to supporting students, her professional experiences and about her dog, Bingo!

Photo courtesy of Margaret Okada-Scheck

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you want the HDS community & prospective students to know about you?  

Hello! My name is Margaret Okada-Scheck (she/her/hers) and I’m the Associate Director of Admissions in HDS Admissions. I’m originally from Queens, New York, and got my BA from the State University of New York at Buffalo. I am Asian American (of Japanese descent), married to a German man, and we have a 15-month-old boy whom we adopted last year.  

I’ve been working in graduate admissions for about 12 years and have been in my role at HDS for 2 years. My primary responsibilities include recruiting prospective students, running the communications and marketing for HDS Admissions, and managing the Diversity and Explorations (DivEx) program. 

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Favorite Things about HDS

14 Monday Sep 2020

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Editor’s Note: 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. 

Anna Ringheiser, MTS ‘21 

My favorite class my first semester at HDS was Religious Literacy and The Professions with Professor Diane Moore. I loved this class primarily because I had not previously encountered the term “religious literacy,” but I had felt the need for what the term describes in previous professional experiences. Another reason I loved this class was the diversity of ages, experiences, and opinions among my classmates. I was able to learn so much from them, which was helped by the small size of the class and Professor Moore’s teaching style, which gave room for everyone to share their thoughts. 

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Interview with Kerry Maloney, HDS Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life

04 Tuesday Aug 2020

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Post by: Kerry Maloney, HDS Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life (RSL) 

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. 

Kerry Maloney, HDS Chaplain and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life (RSL) 
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Q & A with Malini Srikrishna, President of the HDS Student Association (HDSSA)

27 Monday Jul 2020

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Post by: Malini Srikrishna, MTS ‘21 and President of HDSSA (2020-2021) 

Malini (MTS ‘21) is a licensed social worker, entrepreneur and minister of love. Her area of focus is Liberation Theology, Business Ethics and Spiritual Care (an area of focus which Malini created herself). The HDS Student Association provides students a voice in the administrative and policymaking procedures of the School and facilitates discussion among students, staff, and faculty. The elected student officers meet monthly with the Dean to discuss student concerns and issues that affect the entire community and provide opportunities for conversation among students, faculty, and staff through roundtable discussions and Town Hall meetings.  

Malini (MTS ‘21) 
President of HDSSA 
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Reflecting on My Last Year at HDS

28 Thursday May 2020

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Editor’s Note: Tessa Steinert Evoy is graduating today, May 28th, 2020, with a Master of Theological Studies. The Office of Admissions is grateful to Tessa for all her hard work over these past two years serving as an Admissions Graduate Assistant, and we wish Tessa the best of luck on her post-HDS adventures! 

Post by Tessa Steinert Evoy, MTS ‘20 and Admissions Graduate Assistant   

I certainly would not have expected to be ending my MTS degree this way; however, these past few months have only made me appreciate the people of HDS who I have spent the last two years getting to know more. It all began in a classroom that slowly cooled as the sun dipped behind the clouds on a June night in the French course for Summer Language Program. Our classroom was often filled with laughter and the sound of rustling wrappers as we passed around packages of cookies. For me, transitioning from teaching eighth and ninth graders, SLP was a perfect bridge to the full HDS experience, a bit like dipping your toe into the HDS pond. On those sweltering days of orientation I saw the familiar faces of my SLP summer nights as we met the other students we would get to spend the next two years learning from. It is these people that I miss the most during our virtual learning.  

Tessa walks past Divinity Hall with fellow student  
Alex Jensen MDiv ‘21 // photo courtesy of HDS COMMUNICATIONS 
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