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Earlier this year, we welcomed our newest class of students enrolled in the Modified Residency Program (MRP). Like the other classes before them, these students come with varied backgrounds and reasons for seeking to further their education at Meadville Lombard in the modified residency format, though most of our students make the choice to be in the MRP program because of family and career commitments that don’t allow for full-time residency in Chicago.
Debra Thorne says she chose Meadville and the MRP format because the program "allows me to keep my job and raise my two teenage girls while working towards my dream of becoming a Unitarian Universalist (UU) parish minister. I also chose Meadville because I knew I wanted to immerse myself in a UU learning community."
Judy Zimmerman echoes similar reasons for choosing Meadville though adds that the academic integrity of the school was also a deciding factor for her. "I value a ministerial formation process that occurs in an environment steeped in the rich tradition of our UU faith," says Judy. "Meadville’s reputation for academic rigor and the college’s connection with the ACTS and University of Chicago were also factors in my decision."
Andrew Mertz says the MRP format gives him "the best of both worlds. The Modified Residency Program allows me to be a part of a UU seminary with its traditions, while still learning locally among a diversity of seminaries in the DC area, and immediately integrating what I learn into my continuing ministry with youth."
The environment of a January Intensive is just that: intense. Students come to the school having already begun their coursework, then spend an entire week (Monday through Friday, 9:00 to 5:00, generally) in class together. Evenings can be busy with Wednesday Worship, community dinners, student body meetings, study groups, and sometimes site-seeing outings of Chicago. Most of our students are here for the entire month, immersing themselves in this rigorous schedule for three weeks, then returning home to complete coursework as needed. Judy Zimmerman captured the experience in three words: "exhilarating, exhausting, and enticing."
Jennifer Dant said her first January experience was "a mixture of experiences, learning and emotions. I feel blessed and honored to be counted amongst the professors, staff and students at Meadville Lombard.” Andrew Mertz also felt “blessed” to be able to be in community in January. “My first January was particularly challenging as it started with a loss in my family. However, even with the staff transitions, classes have been great, and the community is more then I could have imagined."
The Meadville Lombard community is glad to welcome all these students into the fold. Here are quick introductions to all of our new MRP students:
Ava Adams-Morris is from Chicago but currently lives in rural Minnesota. "I am a family practice physician and I hope to combine community ministry with my ministry as a physician and medical ethicist. I am a member of the UU Fellowship of Mankato, MN."
Michelle Buhite is an adjunct faculty member in the Communications and Music programs at Jamestown Community College in Jamestown, New York. “I've taught there for most of the last 20 years. Singing is my thing! I also direct plays and musicals in the community.” Michelle’s home church is the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown. “It is a lay-led congregation, so I've had many opportunities to practice aspects of ministry before beginning seminary. I will be doing my praxis there, and hope that I can help the congregation ready itself for at least part-time ministry in the future.”
Jennifer Dant lives in Naples Florida. “My fulltime job is mom to a teenager, a preteen and a five year old! My home congregation is the UU Congregation of Greater Naples and I am their part-time Director of Religious Education. Prior to that, I spent 20 years in the healthcare field--the last 15 as a Women's Health Care Nurse Practitioner. I feel called to ministry in order to deepen my understanding and ability to minster to children and families. Who knows where this journey will ultimately lead me.”
Richard Hurst has been a member of the Universalist National Memorial Church for 12 years and has served that church as a Board of Trustees member, a liturgist, and a deacon. His undergraduate work was at Georgetown University where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Linguistics. He has also received a law degree from George Washington University. He currently works for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as a Deputy Chief, investigating employee misconduct.
Patrick McLaughlin is from Vista, California and is a full-time parent, at home and homeschooling two teenage boys. "The rest of the time," Patrick says "I've been an over-involved volunteer at our Fellowship (Palomar Unitarian Universalist Fellowship), which is why I'm still on the Board of Trustees until June and on the building committee." Patrick is pursuing parish ministry and says he choose Meadville Lombard “because I wanted to study at a UU seminary (and there aren't any even sort of liberal seminaries close to home) and because the MRP program was the only program that worked for me, and for my family, now."
Andrew Mertz is a third-generation UU from Northern Virginia. He is the Director of Youth Ministry at the UU Church of Arlington, just outside DC. Andrew says "I am open to all forms of ministry, but come to Meadville with a focus on youth ministry. Since there are few positions out there for ordained youth ministers, I am also actively supporting the development of the field."
Andrew "Drew" Moeller currently at Unitarian Universalist Society: East (UUSE) of Manchester, Connecticut where he has been an active leader in the Youth and Young Adult groups. He is currently employed by Challenge Sailcloth in Vernon, Connecticut as a Technical Sales and Purchasing Manger.
Kennan Pomeroy is enrolled in the Master of Arts (Religion) program. His home church is Unitarian Church of Montpelier in Montpelier, Vermont. He has also been at St. Johnsbury Universalist Church. He is pursuing the degree in hopes of becoming an educator. He is currently a counselor/clinician at Washington County Mental Health Services. Kennan's essay Going Beyond God, and Discovering a Religion: An Atheistic Approach to Being Religious, can be found in the newest online edition of The Journal of Liberal Religion.
Helen "Betty" Skwarek has been a UU for 20 years and for the last three years has been the Director of Religious Education at First Unitarian Universalist church of Austin, Texas.
Debra Thorne is an Acting Instructor at the Vancouver Film School in Vancouver, British Columbia. "I've worked in the arts as an actor, director and instructor for thirty years, about the same length of time that I’ve been connected to the Unitarian Church of Vancouver. I have also been a lay chaplain and spiritual director through the Vancouver Church."
Judy Zimmerman lives in Banks, Oregon and currently serves as a Worship Associate, Pastoral Care Team Member, and Addictions Ministry coordinator in her home congregation, Unitarian Universalist Church of Washington County in Hillsboro, Oregon. "I also volunteer at Hopewell House Hospice in Portland, Oregon. My "day" job is professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies at Portland Community College. Of her future ministry, Judy says “our sexuality and the final passage toward death herald some of our most profound moments of communion, beauty, and transformation. I feel called to serve as a chaplain to those undergoing end-of-life transitions, and to help give birth to a world of sexual justice, healing, and wholeness in work as a community minister."
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