Greetings!

My name is Ariel O’Donnell and I am a twenty-five-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska. Earlier in March this year, I was honored to learn I had been accepted to the MDiv program at Harvard Divinity School. This opportunity means I will be moving to Boston from Omaha, and am asking for the support of my community and loved ones. I am extremely grateful to say my financial aid package at HDS included full tuition and a stipend of $12,000 for my first year at HDS. This GoFundMe and subsequent methods to financially support this journey are to cover moving costs and aid me in having a buffer between moving to Boston and starting a job there.

I am a product of my community. I have been, and continue to be, greatly fortunate to receive support when I needed housing in high school, community care when I was struggling, and continued support of my creative work throughout my teens and early twenties here in Omaha. I got into Harvard, made it to 25, and am here writing this today—because of so many of you.

I will be graduating this year from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with my BA in Religious Studies and a minor in Philosophy. While at UNO, I have been involved with the student Jewish organization J-Connect, served as the Vice President of the Philosophy Club for a semester, and received the Ron Burke Scholarship for Religious Studies Students. I am deeply grateful for my professors and community members at UNO who molded me, motivated me, and shared space with me.

I am a poet, though I do love calling myself a wordsmith (ha!), and have written three collections of poetry. Last summer (2022), I trained with the International End of Life Doula Association, and this summer (2023) I am enrolled in a program at the University of Vermont for a professional certificate in End of Life Doula work.

With this MDiv degree, I plan to integrate serving the dying, those who are impacted by incarceration, and the LGBTQIA2S+ community—as well as others. With an MDiv I will be able to more effectively serve my communities and the communities around me, who need trauma-informed care, spiritual companionship, and informed support.

I am so deeply grateful to all of you and look forward to continuing my studies to be able to do this work for our communities.

Warmly,

Ariel O’Donnell