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photographed at Trustee Hall
ANGELO STEINHARDT-KEELY, ’06 Angelo Steinhardt-Keely calls his teenage years “tumultuous” but life-changing: “When I was sixteen I got seriously injured in a fight and almost died. The brush with death woke me up to the reality of what a wonderful and beautiful gift life truly is.” At St. Edward’s, Steinhardt-Keely has made the university’s Dean’s List and been named a Trustees Scholar and a member of University Fellows, which helps top students secure scholarships and fellowships around the world. He is vice president of the Environmental Club, president of the Religious Studies Club, and president of SEU Awareness, a club that promotes spirituality. Even with a scholarly interest in many religions, Steinhardt-Keely believes the power of personal faith is largely experiential. “A relationship with God and Ultimate Truth has nothing to do with anything but one’s raw personal experience. Everything else is commentary.”
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ZAHIRAH KHAN, ’04 Zahirah Khan, who is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, brings an interesting perspective to Religious Studies classes: Raised Muslim, she has always attended Catholic schools. A Liberal Studies major, she plans to attend law school when she graduates and focus on international law. Last summer, she interned with nonprofit JurisAIDS, which engages the legal community to combat discrimination of those with HIV/AIDS. The best part about her course of study and the knowledge it affords her? “I love that I can have a conversation about something that is current in the news, about history, religion and ethics.” She has studied the scripture and traditions of Judaism and Christianity but has focused on learning more about the history of her own religious tradition, Islam. “Religious Studies has made me realize how important it is to embrace one’s faith.”
ADRIENNE CARPENTER, ’06 Adrienne Carpenter visited both a synagogue and a mosque as part of her Abrahamic Traditions class last fall. The Jewish service, while unfamiliar to her, shared characteristics with Christian ones she had attended as a child. But she was struck by Islamic practices of worship, by how the people lined up to pray. She wanted to know more. Her research on media distortions of Islam confirmed that misconceptions about the faith abound, and she presented these findings at SOURCE this spring (see story, page 6). A Liberal Studies major with concentrations in Philosophy and English, Carpenter finds that her fields of interest often deal with the same fundamental human concerns, the big questions about life. She doesn’t claim to have found the answers, but she knows the benefit of continuing to explore: “The more you are exposed to different religions, the more understanding and tolerant you become.”