{"id":221,"date":"2017-11-09T17:40:06","date_gmt":"2017-11-09T17:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/?p=221"},"modified":"2017-11-17T13:21:41","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T18:21:41","slug":"derrick-sweeney-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/2017\/11\/09\/derrick-sweeney-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Derrick Sweeney &#8217;14"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Derrick Sweeney 2014 \u2013 Major: Religious Studies<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>M.A. Student, Education, St. Peter\u2019s University (current) Music Teacher, Newark Public Schools<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why did you choose to study Religion &#8211; and why at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ State?<\/strong><br \/>\nReligion has always been with us. Throughout history, we find the question \u201cwhat does it mean to be?\u201d a motivating factor that has influenced some of the greatest leaders and thinkers. Today that question still exists, and I wanted to address it in my own way. That is why I decided to become a Religious Studies major.<\/p>\n<p>Whether studying Atheism, Hinduism, Feminism, or Christianity, the academic study of religion at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ State examines all religious traditions even-handedly. Religion also involves interdisciplinary learning \u2013 an understanding of philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and theology \u2013 in order to promote higher-level thinking. Studying religion at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ prepared me for global leadership. It helped me develop critical thinking skills, learn to listen empathetically, and be able to articulate my ideas, in both speech and writing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Which courses and\/or professors did you enjoy the most?<\/strong><br \/>\nAlthough, I am clearly not an atheist, I really enjoyed Dr. Eller\u2019s class on Atheism. I enjoyed hearing my classmates\u2019 perspectives and having the opportunity to take this course to fulfill my Seminar requirement. In addition, I\u2019m glad I had the opportunity to share my understanding of praise-dance in my Spirituality and Mysticism course with Dr. Vail. That class allowed me to discuss how we practice our faith and showcase how I express it in my own life. My favorite professor was Dr. Kogan. He was extremely intelligent and committed to my success as a Religion major; particularly with my writing skills.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What would you tell a current student who is considering a major or minor in Religious Studies?<\/strong><br \/>\nDon\u2019t fall prey to idle talk \u2013 skepticism that you cannot live a comfortable life \u2013 because you decided to be a religion major. There are vast amount of career choices you could choose from. The world needs a lot more people who understand religion \u2013 in court rooms, hospitals, real estate, libraries, and even in government.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How has your study of Religion helped you in your \u201clife after Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ State\u201d?<\/strong><br \/>\nCurrently, I am teaching Music in a charter school in Newark and pursuing a master\u2019s degree in education at Saint Peter\u2019s University.<\/p>\n<p>Being a Religious Studies major has provided me with the stamina to go back into my own community in Newark to build change. Studying religion gave me sense of ethics; allowing me to go out in the world to aim for greatness with a spirit of integrity. It also enhanced my ability to embrace diversity and have cultural conversations that help improve my school and community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Derrick Sweeney 2014 \u2013 Major: Religious Studies M.A. Student, Education, St. Peter\u2019s University (current) Music Teacher, Newark Public Schools Why did you choose to study Religion &#8211; and why at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ State? Religion has always been with us. Throughout history, we find the question \u201cwhat does it mean to be?\u201d a motivating factor that has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-profiles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221\/revisions\/308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}