Hello everyone!
I am very excited to meet you all and to contribute to the wonderful dharmic community being cultivated here at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.
Although I am a new face to many of you, this is technically not my first time working with BCBS. I was one of the founding members of the Contemplative Semester program, where I helped develop its marketing and admissions efforts. I deeply enjoyed my time with CS and am delighted to once again be working for an organization centered on Buddhist thought as the Administrative and Financial Coordinator at BCBS.
I was born in San Francisco and later moved to the Greater Boston area, where I lived until attending Grinnell College in rural Iowa. While the prairies will always hold a special place in my heart, I am glad to be back in Massachusetts, having sorely missed the forests, beaches, and Fenway Park.
Dharmic practice has been an important part of my life for nearly a decade. At sixteen, I was signed up, somewhat against my wishes, for an iBme teen retreat. Suffice it to say, the experience was transformative, and I went on to attend five more retreats before aging out of the program. I continued pursuing these interests in college, majoring in Religious Studies with a concentration in East Asian religions. During my studies, I spent a semester abroad in Bodh Gaya, India, where I was ordained as a Thai Theravāda monk, studied the three yānas, and conducted field research in Kathmandu.
Most recently, I worked as a preschool teacher at a Montessori school. Over the years, I have also worked as a school administrator, a construction worker, and, of course, with the Contemplative Semester.
I should apologize that my photo does not fully reflect how I look these days. My new hairstyle is less a symbol of non-attachment than a concession to male-pattern baldness.
I look forward to getting to know everyone and becoming part of this team. Please feel free to say hello or stop by for a chat anytime.
