Going to graduate school was always “in the plan,” but after graduating from Wellesley in 2010, instead of moving on to another institution of higher learning, I went back to a place that makes many people cringe when thinking of their academic history: I went back to middle school. I spent two years teaching Social Studies, World Religions, and Latin at a small, all-girls middle school in Dorchester, MA and it is because of that experience that this fall I am in my second, and last, year of a Masters of Theological Study (MTS) at Boston University School of Theology.
I didn’t apply to graduate school during my senior year at Wellesley because I couldn’t narrow down my list of interests to focus on something specific. So instead of remaining a student, I became a teacher. In trying to capture the attention and imagination of 13 year old girls, I found myself getting even more excited about my subjects, especially teaching about religion. While religion had been one of my many interests and possible graduate school topics, as I taught about religion, worked on curriculum materials, and talked to other teachers, I discovered an area that I was really passionate about and wanted to keep talking about. Classroom discussions with my students about religious beliefs and rituals, religion in current events, and the big questions asked by religions were fascinating to me, and the insights of the girls were amazing. I wondered: Why didn’t I have this experience when I was in school? Why did so few students have the opportunity to engage with the questions about religion and the world that my students were asking? How could I bring this to other schools and students and help other teachers to teach about this complex and intriguing topic of religion? I found my focus in those middle school classrooms and in trying to find answers to those questions, I became a student again.
I now have the opportunity to spend my days with other people who are as interested and enthusiastic about many of the same things as I am and are willing to engage in those questions with me. Being at the BU School of Theology has given me the chance to explore how religion provides people with ways of knowing about the world. Studying theology for me has been more about discovering questions and new ways of asking questions than about finding answers. My academic and career goals are slightly different from many of my classmates who will go into some type of ministry. But, working with people who are concerned with the religious and spiritual lives of people has been helpful as I develop my approach to teaching about religion in a neutral way to secondary school students.
When I told my students at the end of my second year teaching that I would be returning to school myself to be a graduate student the next fall, most of them did not understand why I would willing choose more school. They hadn’t yet found something that they wanted to spend all day reading and talking about, even if it meant they were left with more questions than answers at the end of the day. I hadn’t found that thing yet during my senior year at Wellesley either. While I had always imagined that I would go to graduate school, it took a few years of going back to middle school for me to really understand what it was that I wanted graduate school to be and find the questions that I wanted to ask.
– Kate Soules
Wellesley College, BA Sociology ‘10
Boston University School of Theology, Masters in Theological Study ‘14