A Word About Cherry Hill Seminary
I think that I was more surprised than anyone when I was invited to participate in envisioning and shaping the future of the preeminent Pagan distance education institution as a member of their board of directors. While there are many online schools, colleges, and seminaries that claim to provide higher education and advanced training to the Pagan community, only Cherry Hill Seminary backs up those claims with a robust and serious-minded curriculum. Their faculty are not only experienced practitioners and clergy, but the majority hold advanced academic degrees in the fields they teach. The school is now engaged in a multi-year plan that will not only see the school start to provide Master’s degrees in Divinity, Counseling, Ministry, and Pagan Studies, but achieve accreditation through the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). Their achievements and goals paint a portrait of a school that is avoiding easy shortcuts, or becoming a money-making degree/diploma mill, and is instead heavily invested in making sure our future is filled with well-trained and accomplished leaders.
Naturally, an endeavor like this doesn’t come cheap. We have staff and faculty to pay, infrastructure to build and maintain, and certain benchmarks to meet if we are to achieve our goals. Tuition from students only covers a portion of these costs, and like all higher learning institutions we rely on donors to meet the ever-rising costs of running a learning institution of this type. When I joined the board at Cherry Hill, it was expected that I would take part in fund-raising efforts to show my personal commitment towards making the school as success. While I have no secret contact list of wealthy donors or rich relatives, I do have something of a bully pulpit here at The Wild Hunt. So in this one instance I’m going to briefly stray from news-gathering and editorial pontificating, and ask the thousands of people who read my blog and are invested in institutions like Cherry Hill Seminary succeeding and growing to consider giving a donation during our annual appeal. I understand that times are hard, and that many of you can’t spare much, but if you do have some disposable income, and are interested in making a tax-deductible contribution to help us succeed now is the time.
Like many of you, I’m always deeply skeptical of online endeavours that claim to advance our community. I have aligned myself with Cherry Hill because I trust the people running it, and I respect the people teaching for it. If my goals in life were a bit different, I would not hesitate to pick Cherry Hill as a place to receive advanced skills that would prepare me for a future in aiding and guiding my coreligionists towards a better future. If you agree with my assessment, please choose this time to make a donation, small or large, towards our future. If and when you do, please let them know that The Wild Hunt sent you. You may also, if you want to support this mission but have nothing to give at this time, re-post my message on your own blog or journal. We always ask where the advanced material is, and when we are going to advance beyond “101″ lessons, well here is where that need is answered and fulfilled. I hope you’ll join me in helping Cherry Hill shape our collective future.
Cheers,
Jason Pitzl-Waters
The Wild Hunt
Cherry Hill Seminary B.O.D.
3 responses so far
It is something they are working on/hope to do.
Soapbox maybe, but bully pulpit? Not in my book.
[...] for a person’s qualifications as a priest/priestess/clergy member. Wild Hunt blog awhile back ran a fundraising post on behalf of Cherry Hill, and the circles of people who go and obtain training through this program [...]