"My father is a Presbyterian minister, my mother a self-proclaimed agnostic. I went to church every Sunday when I was growing up, however my parents were both constantly discussing and introducing other religions. I remember distinctly having a menorah, talking about Kwanza, my mom referencing different Hindu Gods, and my most fond memory of my mom reminding us every year on Christmas that the reason we celebrate the holiday when we do is actually because of ancient Indo-Iranian mythology and the God Mithras. I was constantly surrounded by discussions about religion.

When I was in high school and began going on college tours I told everyone I wanted to study political science. It wasn’t until my junior year, when I took a religion course combined with a class called Human Geography, that my thoughts began to change. I distinctly remember the day I was touring colleges the summer before senior year and changed my answer to what I wanted to study. I said 'religion.' I came in declared and haven’t regretted it a single day.

I am currently working for AmeriCorps in Florida with the Palm Beach Literacy Coalition where I am working with Haitian immigrants, teaching English to both children and adults. I have an eleven-month commitment with AmeriCorps and my plan is to apply for the PeaceCorps after my service here. People always ask 'what you can do with a degree in religion' and I think the great thing is that you’re not limited! My studies broadened my worldview, and taught me about race, gender, politics, and so much more than just religion.”

- Mairé Gebhard

"At UVM I was studying philosophy at first, which lacked a direct confrontation with a lot of social justice and political issues that religion classes offer, so I added religion as another major. I was exposed to works like Tomoko Masuzawa’s The Invention of World Religions and Saba Mahmood’s Agency, Performativity, and the Feminist Subject, two of the best things I’ve read for any class.

"One of the most rewarding experiences at UVM was the work I did as part of professor Vicki Brennan’s classes, which resulted in a museum exhibit ‘Spirited Things' held in the fall of 2017. The exhibit included sacred objects from the Yoruba religion of West Africa and other offshoots of Yoruba in the Americas developed by enslaved Africans who blended their spiritual practices with those of their captors. First, I took a religion seminar in the spring before the exhibit where we did a lot of research to prepare for the exhibit. In the fall I took another course concentrating on ethnography of museum visitors who were largely unfamiliar with these religions. The context of a Western museum typically implies that these objects must be very old and come from faraway places--therefore they are usually exhibited mainly for their value as natural history. However, in 'Spirited Things' many of the objects came from the contemporary Afro-Atlantic diaspora including cities like L.A. and New York. These objects were imbued with power and meaning for ritual purposes, and revered in their own right.

"A small statue of the Afro-Cuban goddess Yemayá, manufactured in China in 2014 and picked up by Matory in a Los Angeles botanica, served as the inspiration for independent research. For me, it inspired an independent study centering around one of the objects in the exhibit, a statue of Yemaya. I ended up publishing a paper ‘Yemayá on Display: Post-Colonial Contact Zones in the Museum,’ and made a presentation at a spring symposium.”

- Thomas Mackell

"I majored in religion because the subject has always intrigued me, I identify as a religious person and wanted to continue my religious education with seminary in my post-graduation career. Hopefully, in 10 years, I will be an ordained Deacon (or at least on track to become ordained) in the United Methodist Church, serving in either the New England or Chicago conference. Deacons wear a variety of hats and can work in many settings, but I am particularly interested in pastoral counseling and the intersections of faith and mental health . . . Currently, I'm studying at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill. to get my Master of Divinity."

- Lydia Marchese

"I initially chose religion because I didn’t know what I wanted to study, but at the time I thought I might want to be a rabbi.  I stuck with it because religion turned out to encompass quite a lot, and I’ve always thought of it as the best parts of literature and history smooshed into one. I’ve said for years that 'Intro to Islam' with Professor Morgenstein Fuerst should be required for everyone in arts and sciences. That course fundamentally changed the way I see not only Islam, not only religion but the whole crazy entangled world all together. If I could write any book, I'd like to expand my term paper from 'Religion and Empire' which was about the abolitionists Maria W Stewart and Angelina Grimke.  It would be titled something like The Nasty Christian Women of Abolition: Race, Gender, and Religion in the Discursive Struggle for Liberation.

- Simon Wolfe

As a high school student in Groton, Conn., Marissa was looking for a college that offered a lively religion program and a strong reputation in the sciences—at the time she had her sights set on medical school.

“I had never been to Vermont as a kid, but I enjoy hiking and the outdoors, so the fact that UVM had a good medical school right on campus and a great rural atmosphere were really strong selling points for me.”

McFadden double-majored in biochemistry and religion but felt a stronger tug to the latter discipline.

“I genuinely had a passion for thinking about world systems, languages, cultures, interactions, and intersectionalities. But also, I thought that it would be a unique characteristic that I could present to medical school admissions. I don't think I consciously knew it then, but my decision to major in religion was the beginning of my move away from the sciences and more towards thinking about the world as an activist.”

In her second year at UVM, she concentrated fully on religious studies. She still sees herself working in a clinical setting as a social worker–she’s now pursuing an MSW through UVM’s College of Education and Social Services.

“Studying religion helps you empathize with people and what they are going through. It takes into account not just their belief systems but their cultural history, their stories, and their circumstances. It provides me a way to bring the whole person into focus.”