HDS communications reached out to our 2021 graduating students to hear from them in their own words about their experiences at HDS, the people who've helped and inspired them along their grad school journeys, and their plans for the future.
Favorite Class or Professor
It wouldn't be possible to only name one class or professor, especially since my courses at HDS were all informed by each other. What I appreciated in one class was often guided by what I learned in another.
I'm especially grateful for the religious literacy toolkit I developed from Professors Diane Moore and Lauren Kerby; I'll hold onto the guiding questions Professor Karen King repeated throughout her course—such as: "what is the evidence evidence of"—and I've been shaped by the authors whose work Professor Matt Potts introduced me to, such as Marilynne Robinson.
Message of Thanks
I'm still working on an independent project, which I began in Prof. Lauren Kerby's course last spring. I further developed it in my thesis seminar over the past year, and I hope to continue building it out beyond graduation. This project blended together skills from my religious literacy courses, literature classes, as well as research seminars. I'm thankful to the professors and their courses who moved my thinking in some way on this project, without even being directly involved: Prof. Matt Potts, Prof. Lauren Kerby, Prof. Diane Moore, and teaching fellow Kelsey Hanson Woodruff.
Future Plans
I'm continuing on at Harvard, at the Kennedy School, where I'll begin my masters in public policy. My hope for there, and beyond, is to continue identifying the place of religion in society and public life—especially when it appears as invisible.