Allison Rosen is in Boston, studying ministry and Buddhist animal ethics and also working at a homeless shelter.

The first-year Harvard Divinity School student is in heaven. “I have no doubt in my mind this is where I should be,” the USC alumna said.

Well, heaven might be a funny word to use.

Although Rosen is there to pursue chaplaincy, she might not be the cookie-cutter divinity student of generations past. She’s an atheist, a lesbian and an industrial engineer looking to apply the teachings of religious traditions to secular communities.

And she’s not alone.

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