{"id":1430,"date":"2022-05-20T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-20T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/religion\/?p=1430"},"modified":"2022-05-18T08:26:48","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T12:26:48","slug":"senior-spotlight-a-series-celebrating-our-graduating-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/religion\/2022\/05\/20\/senior-spotlight-a-series-celebrating-our-graduating-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Spotlight: a series on our graduating students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I took [Dr. Clark’s] advice and sought out the classes and subjects which most intrigued me and again and again I returned to religion. Intellectually, I was constantly engaged by my professors and the course-material they taught, but as an individual it was the religion department\u2019s tightknit community that I appreciated most.<\/p>– greta close<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Greta Close ’22<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Why did you major in Religion?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I was a child, I have been curious about religion. As a \u201ctwo-day saint\u201d (a Christian affiliate who attends church on Christmas Eve and Easter), I was not raised religious, but constantly wondered why people participated in religion and what it did for them. Then on a trip to Europe in high school, I was exposed to the massive cathedrals built during the \u201cdark ages\u201d and I was baffled by the feats of engineering and architecture that had been the product of religion. So, when I arrived at UVM as a freshman and signed up for classes, I picked \u201cWhat is the Bible?\u201d as my TAP class, hoping to find an answer to these questions which had plagued me for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although clear answers were far from what I\u2019d discover, I\u2019d consider this to be my best academic decision. Not only did I end up in Professor Clark\u2019s class, in which I became fascinated by the study of religion, but as an undecided student she became my advisor. And as I played with different ideas for majors \u2013 ranging from Art History to Communications \u2013 Clark pushed me to indulge my curiosity and intellect. As a student-athlete surrounded by very clearly academically tracked individuals, this encouragement meant a great deal to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going forward, I took her advice and sought out the classes and subjects which most intrigued me and again and again I returned to religion. Intellectually, I was constantly engaged by my professors and the course-material they taught, but as an individual it was the religion department\u2019s tightknit community that I appreciated most. By the end of my sophomore year, I declared a major in religion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where do you imagine yourself in 10 years?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard for me to imagine myself anywhere in 10 years because I am so eager to travel in the present. But based on my current interests, I would see myself as an established adventure journalist living in a mountain community but continuing to travel and cover intriguing adventure stories in 10 years. I hope to be a member of a close community which values the environment, is eager to learn, and is filled with good, interesting, and diverse people. I would love to be living abroad, perhaps in New Zealand, but I\u2019m open to living in many places. I also hope I am continuing to engage with new ideas, concepts, and arguments like I was exposed to in college\u2026 and hopefully reading more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine a first-year student has asked your advice about REL courses. What\u2019s the one she shouldn\u2019t dream about missing? Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gosh, that\u2019s a tough one. I would say for a first-year without previous interest in religion, a class with Professor Morgenstein-Fuerst like \u201cIntro to Hinduism\u201d is a great hook into the REL department. If it\u2019s someone already interested by religion, culture, etc. I would say \u201cIslam and Race\u201d or \u201cIslam and Modernity\u201d with Morgenstein-Fuerst or \u201cMysticism, Shamanism, and Spirit Possession\u201d with Brennan are very intriguing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you could write any book, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hmmm… I think would like to write a memoir, detailing the experiences I\u2019ve had, the people I\u2019ve met, and the perspective I hold — that is if my life grows in interest and relevance!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any fond memories of 481 Main Street you want to share?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll always fondly remember meetings with my professors, in which I was offered tea, life advice, and always someone to talk to. Thanks to everyone who made 481 a comforting and happy place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I took [Dr. Clark’s] advice and sought out the classes and subjects which most intrigued me and again and again I returned to religion. Intellectually, I was constantly engaged by my professors and the course-material they taught, but as an … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1096,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[33374,110219],"tags":[474653,165837,642836,122522,112833,395783,118,449],"class_list":["post-1430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni","category-student-blog","tag-studyreligion","tag-alumni","tag-class-of-2022","tag-graduation","tag-majors","tag-senior-spotlight","tag-student","tag-uvm"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4woDM-n4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1096"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1430"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1440,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430\/revisions\/1440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}