On Friday, January 7, Choate held its fourth Community Conversation of the year, focusing on religious identity. Held over Zoom, various topics were discussed at the meeting, from misconceptions about religions to feeling out of place in religious communities.
The student co-host of the conversation, Jansher Azmat ’22, wanted to help facilitate the discussion to celebrate religious diversity at Choate. “As president of Muslims Student Association, I think it’s important to showcase all aspects of religious identity, especially since religion is not often discussed in our community,” he said.
Many students enjoyed the change of pace and topic for this Community Conversation. Adama Sowe ’23 said, “In the past Community Conversations, it was easy to find things we could have done better or things that could have been said differently, but this meeting was actually a learning experience.”
Compared to the last conversation, students felt that it provided more opportunities for all community members to speak up and share their experiences. “It felt so different from the other community conversations because there wasn’t much animosity,” said Julia Xu ’23. “People were just talking about their experiences and it seemed like people had really positive experiences with religion.”
Many also appreciated the questions asked, due to the conversation they were able to foster. The questions included how students’ religious identities and practices have changed since coming to Choate, as well as what misconceptions exist regarding students’ religions. “They tried to use questions that were relevant to the topic, and where people could share their opinions, rather than questions that could be searched through Google,” said Sophia Kim ’24.
Sowe also enjoyed the nature of the questions. She said, “Everyone was speaking on their own experience, and no one was here to school anyone.”
This Community Conversation proved to be a learning experience for many, especially when it came to the different religions that make up the campus. “There isn’t a high population of religious people at Choate,” said Kim, “So it was great to learn about religions I hadn’t even heard of.”
“The number of religious identities that I was not aware of was particularly interesting,” said Associate Dean of Equity and Inclusion Mr. Filipe Camarotti. “I gained a greater appreciation for them just by sitting and listening.”
At the same time, the conversation bridged the gap between seemingly different religions “Yes, there’s diversity,” said Ximena Castillo ’24. “But there’s a lot of things that are the same across religions, like parental relationships or what to bring up at the dinner table.”
The conversation also fostered a sense of belonging among religious people at Choate. Castillo added, “Seeing [different] people talk about their religion made me feel like a part of a community.”
Because of the Zoom format, more people could participate with the anonymous chat function. “People who would be too afraid to speak in front of 1,000 people can write down a chat and share their opinions,” said Kim.
While the chat feature included more people in the conversation compared to the in-person format, Kim also appreciated the Zoom format’s time efficiency. “When it’s in person, when they walk around with a microphone for each question, it takes a lot of time and creates a sort of awkward atmosphere,” she said.
Although there are some proponents for Zoom Community Conversations, others believe they are best in Colony Hall. “I prefer in person, because I want people to be able to sit in a room together,” said Sowe. “Especially when the School is getting divided constantly with Covid-19, we should appreciate it when we can all sit in a room together.”
Many agreed that the Community Conversation proved to be valuable for both religious and non-religious students, with each group being able to gain something positive from the event. The next Community Conversation, on Multiracial Identity, is scheduled for February 3, and is planned to be held in person.
