It’s been a little over two years since I graduated in May 2002 from
UB. UB life feels like another lifetime, and it’s hard to believe that
only two years have passed. I am pursuing my Master’s of Theological
Studies at Harvard Divinity School focusing on Sociology of Religion
and a Master of Divinity at Unification Theological Seminary in
upstate New York.The Harvard system allows us to take classes at area schools and this
semester I am taking a small break from the Harvard classrooms to
venture outward: I take one class at Harvard, two at Boston College
and one at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which is an hour’s
drive from Cambridge. Every day has proven to be so different and I
have yet to feel the ho-humness of a routinized life.
Among the many things that enriched my life as an undergraduate at UB
was the organizational abilities I was able to cultivate. Since
January my passion has been organizing retreat-style workshops for
young college-aged kids in my church. While there is definitely a
spiritual dimension to the whole experience, the things I learned
outside of the classroom at UB were crucial to successfully organizing
these 4-day retreats. Saturday nights in Boston are my youth ministry
nights, when I help out with my church’s new youth ministry program, which balances out my theory-based classroom learning with hands-on experience.
Bostonian life can be draining to my purse, and I was recently hired
at the national headquarters of YouthBuild USA, assisting the Director
of Programming, Communications and Marketing, and I am quite excited about fine-tuning my organizational skills for events and workshops. I am also a remote recruiter for UB, representing my alma mater at college fairs. I was at a college fair in Belmont (which is about 8 minutes away from where I live) just yesterday and found myself recruiting students. There were 3 or 4 students that were interested in international studies and I became pretty worked up describing the IPED program and the other cultural flavorings that make UB so special. Harvard classes have been good, but I always find myself telling potential students at the
fairs that some of the professors I had at UB, (Dr. Rubenstein, Dr.
van der Kroef, Dr. Ward, Dr. Healey, impress me more than the majority
of Harvard professors do both academically and personally. I love
that job because it keeps me connected to the university, and it’s exhilarating to bring potential students to UB, and I can earn money at the same time.
Sitting in the Harvard classroom, an anonymous face among the crowd,
makes me nostalgic for the personal experience I had at UB, where the
faculty were always caring and always knew my name. It’s exciting to
be outside the UB womb, but there are times when I do want the warm
comfort of home that UB always was, and will remain for me.