Name: Rachel Kessler
Year: Class of ’04
Title: Priest-in-Charge of Harcourt Parish and Episcopal Chaplain at Kenyon
HCK: Hi Ms. Kessler, thanks for meeting with us! You graduated from Kenyon in 2004, what has changed since you went here?
Rachel Kessler: One thing that’s amazing is how much things haven’t changed, in a way. The campus still feels the same, which is kind of surreal, being back. There are some new buildings – the athletic center is new, as well. It’s funny – that was just being – I think- really just being talked about when I was here. So I still haven’t actually been inside of it, I need to make the mental leap to go to the athletic center, but I mean campus culture as a whole from what I’ve been able to experience, still seems [the same]. I’ve been amazed by the number of student groups who have persisted for the last decade. Plus, still going strong and I’m sure I will be surprised by the things that are different, the more I get to know campus and the more I get to know students.
HCK: What activities were you involved in at Kenyon?
Rachel: I was really involved with KCDC, mostly as a techie, back in the day I stagemanged a few shows, I think I was the treasurer for a while. And the collegian, I was really involved with the Collegian, I was on the editorial staff, I think the whole time I was at Kenyon. Philosophy club, I was the president of the Philosophy Club for a while. I was oddly not super involved with Canterbury, ironically enough. A lot of my friends were really really really active in it, I kind of showed up to events but I was not really heavily involved. I was in the Society for Creative Anachronism, I don’t know if that’s still here or not. Those were the main things I think I was involved [in]. Oh, the Gaming Club. I was a nerd.
HCK: What was your favorite thing about Kenyon?
Rachel: I think the quirkiness of it. I mean that’s what really drew me to Kenyon when I was looking at schools, like I remember, because I really wanted to study English. I remember talking to Department Chairs for English Departments at different schools that I was visiting and they were all very, professional, and then it just felt like when I came here, it felt more, I don’t know – organic or quirky. I just remember the professor’s offices all had books and papers piled up everywhere, and so I always loved the quirkiness of Kenyon, and the quirkiness of the students. Students seems really unique, and to be individuals, and I liked that when I was here, and that still seems to be part of what Kenyon prides itself on
HCK: What led you back here?
Rachel: Just a really cool opportunity. Okay, first—everyone wants to come back to Kenyon. I’ve had so many of my alumni friends just, “Oh! You’re living the dream, going back to Kenyon!” So I think there’s that, but you know, the idea of doing the chaplaincy role and getting to work with students. It was just a really really really unique opportunity. The fact that is was Kenyon made it ten thousand times more appealing, but just the fact that it was this really cool opportunity to be involved with a parish and have that kind of normal parish ministry that I love doing but then also to work with students and have the whole college chaplaincy side, and to get the chance to work with Mark Bragin, the Jewish Chaplain, and to have that whole interfaith side, and have conversations with people of different backgrounds and perspectives is just a whole different dynamics to ministry that I wouldn’t have just being in a normal parish setting.
HCK: What is involved in your job?
Rachel: It’s kind of an open book. One of the things that I would really love to do and I’m working on getting to know who the right people are to talk to about this, but I would love to work with other student activist groups and student service groups, right? Because I think there’s a huge role in how faith is lived out in action and what it actually means for our lives and how we actually engage with the world. I think should be a major focus of what I’m doing, is to find out what students are already currently engaged in, in terms of how they’re working to make the world a better place, and to see how I, in my role as Chaplain can support them and work with them, and help them do what they’re doing. And to help student realize that faith does have this huge implication for our action in the world.
HCK: What would you like people to know about your role here?
Rachel: I think, just to know that I am here. Because I think that’s a completely new thing, and I think that in the short time I’ve been here, there’s been kind of this, “What is that? What is a chaplain?” Just to know that I am here, I am available to talk to students, on a number of different levels, I think that whatever, just trying to figure out what your spiritual path is can be a huge part of this period in your lives, right? Sort of breaking down, maybe, what traditions or what background you’ve come from and figuring out what that means as you craft your own identity and your own understanding of the world. I think my own particularly In this own new Spiritual and Religious Life Office that’s been developed is here to help students do that. I think that’s a huge part of what both Mark and I are trying to do in that new office. And that we’re here to help facilitate what students want to do, either in terms of events around issues, of faith and spirituality, but also projects and service and activism, I think that’s something that I would love to be involved with. Than I think there’s also that whole side of whatever students are dealing with, whether it’s personal crisis in life or just anxiety issues, or anything that students want to talk about to see my new position here as just another resource, another person that students can go to, to be support.
HCK: What is your advice for students?
Rachel: I think don’t be afraid to ask questions, and to realize, that I think Kenyon is such a spiritually rich place, there’s my new role, there’s Mark who’s been here for a number of years, and there’s a number of different people on campus who are a spiritual resource and to not be afraid to approach those people with questions, because we have come to this work because we like having those conversations.
HCK: What are you most excited about the coming year here on the hill?
Rachel: Right now, it’s meeting students and hearing students’ stories. I think that’s the most important thing that I can do. To just understand where students are coming from, and what excites [them].
HCK: I have one last question, it’s a fun one. Do you have a theme song?
Rachel: Probably the theme song from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Thank you!
Image Credit: Kenyon.edu