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Katie Anderson
Katie Anderson, front, with another McCormick student and professor alongside the Nile, with the Luxor temple in the background.
I’ve had many wonderful experiences since graduating from Hastings. I first joined the Young Adult Volunteer Program and moved to Miami, Fla., to work as a community organizer for a grassroots interfaith coalition of churches, synagogues, schools and community groups. We worked on local issues such as healthcare, affordable housing, crime, education and more. After spending a year and a half in Miami, I worked on an organic farm southwest of Atlanta and then moved to Louisville, Ky., where I spent a year working with the National Network for Presbyterian College Women (NNPCW) and Racial Ethnic Young Women Together (REYWT). After this internship ended, I spent one more year in Louisville at the Kentucky Foundation for Women managing a retreat center and farm devoted to giving time, space and funding to Kentucky women artists and activists.
When something told me it was about time to get myself to seminary, I moved to Chicago and started school at McCormick. After I completed my first year of seminary, I returned to Louisville and worked as a youth counselor at a facility for teenage girls with severe behavioral issues. This was the most challenging experience I've had, but I also loved it. Last year, I worked as a student pastor at a United Methodist/UCC church called Church of the Three Crosses. It was a wonderful experience and I had a great mentor, Rev. John Hobbs. I planned and led worship many times, preached, planned young adult events and had many opportunities to give pastoral care. This summer, I went to Seattle to do Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at a hospital and hospice center there.
I’ve now completed two years of seminary at McCormick with one to go, and I’m a Candidate for ordination in the PCUSA. I am grateful for the generous merit scholarship I received to attend McCormick, and I’ve also received the Samuel Robinson Award in Shorter Catechism for learning the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
Last January, I went on the most phenomenal trip I have ever experienced. As part of my studies at McCormick, I traveled to Egypt and studied biblical history alongside ancient Egyptian history. We studied with Egyptian Christian students, explored the relationships between East and West and learned about the experience of Christians living in a Muslim-dominant country.
