Building Trust, Friendship, and Respect: A Student’s Reflection on the Inaugural Encounter Program

By Raha Murtuza (SFS’28)

Coming into the Encounter pre-orientation program, I was riddled with anxiety. The anticipation of starting a whole new life at university was intensified by the anticipation of spending the next few days discussing religion with a group of strangers in the mountains. I’m Muslim, and visibly so. I expected to spend the next week being the first Muslim my peers had met while listening to the rest of them discuss the Holy Spirit and the differences between Catholics and Protestants. And though I indeed was the first Muslim many had met, the conversations we had and the activities we participated in were much more fulfilling than I could have imagined. 

The week began on Sunday evening with a talk from the chaplains in Dahlgren Chapel. I immediately felt that I could trust all of them, despite not knowing anyone. I felt the same way about our student leaders and our representatives from Campus Ministry. And as the week went on, through cupcakes and conversations, I began to develop that same trust for my peers. 

At home, my beliefs and religious experiences were not something I discussed outside of my community. I had plenty of non-Muslim friends, but concepts of the divine were never the topic of our conversations. The only previous instances were when I defended believing in God against someone who vehemently believed I shouldn’t. But at Encounter, I was surrounded by people who respected my beliefs and practices, even if they didn’t believe in my version of God. It was the first time I felt completely comfortable expressing my love for God and Islam in a diverse setting. 

A particularly memorable activity from the week was In Your Shoes, a program of Georgetown’s Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics, led by the effervescent duo of Sivagami “Shiva” Subbaraman and Rabbi Rachel Gartner. The purpose of In Your Shoes was to create empathy for another person who, on the surface, was quite different from ourselves. We engaged in an open-ended conversation, and then shared the other’s story with the rest of the group. I was paired with a Catholic student, Colleen Schweninger (SFS ’28) who I connected deeply with over our shared experience of finding God through our relationships with our brothers with autism. I shared personal experiences with her because of the trust I developed with her during our conversation, and she shared her personal experiences with me. The anxiety I carried into the week disappeared with that one conversation. I couldn’t be afraid of someone who listened to me with respect and who was vulnerable with me in return.

The moments in between were just as important as the moments of reflection and conversation. I played the most volleyball I have played since eighth grade. Under the confusing -yet- spirited coaching by a director’s eight-year-old son and ever-changing rules, the group experienced both glorious victories and heartbreaking defeats. The little boy also proudly introduced us to the center’s wide array of board games, led late-night s’mores roastings, and provided consistent entertainment. When I think about our time together at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center (CCC), the person that I think of is him and how he brought us all together. 

On the last morning at the CCC, we woke up early to watch the sunrise. Watching the sun (pictured left), I was filled with a renewed sense of peace, ready to return to campus. The next couple of days back on campus were spent visiting different prayer spaces and hearing from Georgetown’s faith leaders. Seeing how Georgetown respects the diversity of faith traditions practiced at Georgetown was incredible. I was not just educated but immersed in the religions that were presented. When it came time to visit the masjid, I was so excited to see Islam represented at school and to have peers who were equally excited to experience the masjid alongside me. I realized that Encounter showed me how Georgetown is more than a university. It is a spiritual home.

Encounter is a pre-orientation program for incoming first-year students, with 2024 marks its inaugural year. Offered by Campus Ministry, it aims to foster interreligious friendship, equip students with interreligious dialogue tools, and empower them to articulate their perspectives. The program also integrates the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus as a framework for embracing Georgetown’s Jesuit identity and interreligious commitments.

Sivagami “Shiva” Subbaraman serves as Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Performing Arts.

Rabbi Rachel Gartner serves as the Senior Advisor for Spiritual Care at Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies and is also the Co-Director of the In Your Shoes Research and Practice Center at the Global Lab for Performance and Politics (The Lab).