Class of 2020-2021

EMMAUS FELLOWS

Emmaus Fellows are second-year fellows based in the greater Boston area. This cohort is focused on capacity building. Fellows either continue work in their first year site placements, building on the initiatives started and relationships built in year one, or they pursue a new site placement, which enables them to broaden their skill set. Emmaus Fellows work at non-profit organizations and churches, focused on social and structural change. In addition to site work, Emmaus Fellows serve in a programmatic leadership role with Life Together and live in intentional community.

Eva Dalzell

Hey, I'm Eva (she/her/hers)! When I joined Life Together a year ago after completing a B.A. in Classics at Washington University in St. Louis, I wanted to learn more about community- and faith-based activism, deepen my relationship with the Divine, and explore Boston. I'm excited to continue that work in a second year with Life Together. Throughout this difficult year, I've been so proud and grateful to be where I am, surrounded by incredible people doing necessary work together. When I'm not working for my site placement at the Diocesan Office of Youth Ministries, I can be found trying to find pictures of cats in seasonal clothing to attach to my work emails. I love queer historical fiction, bicycling, sci-fi, dead languages, and playing dungeons & dragons.

Freddie Swindal

Hi everyone! My name is Freddie, a name I chose after one of my inspirations, Freddie Mercury. My pronouns are they/them/theirs. I graduated in May 2019 from Fordham University in the Bronx majoring in theology and Spanish with a minor in philosophy. I hail from Pittsburgh, PA where I grew up with three amazing siblings and my wonderful parents who met in Boston! I am so excited to be continuing with a second year with Life Together. I am as certain as ever that this program is where God would like me to be. I’ve learned and grown so much over this past year in unexpected ways, whether it be adjusting to community life or facing challenges at my work site. My favorite prayer, the Romero prayer, calls us "prophets of a future not our own," and I have definitely met my fellow prophets and can’t wait for the others I meet.

In my free time, I love to listen to music, eat candy and re-watch comedy sitcoms I basically have memorized at this point. I am grateful for another year of annoying my housemates and singing loudly in the kitchen.

Joyce Chae

Hello everyone! My name is Joyce Chae (she/hers), and I hail from the land of Northridge, CA. I’m a 2nd-generation Korean American finding my way through what it means to engage faith in transformative work. I graduated UC San Diego with Communication, which was all about dissecting the different forces that make up the human experience as we communicate with our (divine) selves and others.

A sentence to sum up my first year with Life Together: “What a long time it can take to become the person one has always been!” -Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation. It was a season of healing through answering the call to be fully and authentically as I am. Figuring out the little grooves and patterns of my inmost being was only possible by the support of the communities around me—my colleagues and friends at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and my intentional community. These communities have taught me more about myself and the Divine than any other experience ever has. I eagerly look forward to jumping even deeper with joy

Sky Gavis-Hughson

Hi, my name is Sky and I use they/them pronouns.

This past year in community I have thrived in an environment of warmth, acceptance, and care, and felt myself opening up into a truer version of myself. Living in diverse intentional community has taught me to lean in—to difference, to conflict, to love. I’ve painted rocks, learned to embroider, cooked, planted a garden, cleaned, complained, laughed, and cried with my housemates. After a year living in intentional community, my present interests lie in learning about restorative and transformative justice as a way to better address conflict and create accountability in loving community.

In my second year, I’ll continue my work with Creche, supporting others in doing the work of intentional community in long term community houses affiliated with Episcopal congregations. I’m looking forward to bringing my new skills and confidence into a year of increased independence and responsibility, and to the relational deepening that comes from a sustained relationship with those I work with.

I bring to my work a BA in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies, experience with mentorship and community building, and an investment in an intersectional struggle for justice and liberation. Recently, I’ve been exploring disability/neurodivergence and my Jewish cultural identity, as well as reflecting on my role in antiracism work and community care in the face of capitalism, white supremacy culture, and fascism. I’m thrilled to be staying for another year with Life Together and can only imagine what growth, challenge, and joy it will bring.

Tomoni Mwamunga

Habari gani! My name is Tomoni Mwamunga and I’m a Kenyan immigrant who has been living (mostly) in Lynn, MA for the past 15 years. I am happy and excited to be doing an Emmaus year at Life Together while placed at Community Change Inc. This past year, living in an intentional community, being exposed to the varying spiritual perspectives of my peers, and engaging in social justice work have challenged and grown me. A few things I like to do in my free time are writing, reading, listening to music, eating food, making food (mostly eating it), exploring the local food scene, and working outside. This year, I hope to meet some gym goals and get lost around the city a bit.

MICAH FELLOWS

Micah Fellows are first-year fellows based in the greater Boston area. This cohort is focused on training leaders who want to pursue a career in ministry or non-profit management. Micah Fellows work at non-profit organizations and churches, focused on social and structural change. During their year with Life Together, Micah Fellows: work for social justice, grow as leaders, and live in community with other fellows. In addition to working four days a week, these fellows will participate in about eight hours a week of leadership training and spiritual reflection, and they live in community with one another.

Andrea Albamonte

My name is Andrea Albamonte and I’m from Fairfax, Virginia. I’m so excited to be starting the Life Together program in Boston! I’m a cradle Episcopalian who took a detour working as a youth pastor at a Unitarian Universalist Church before returning to the Episcopal Church. I’m now in the process of discerning whether I want to be a priest in the Episcopal Church (and whether the Episcopal Church wants me)! I’m greatly enjoying the process; I’ve interviewed many people in all different aspects of ministry such as death doulas, deacons, and military chaplains. I’m currently working on getting certified as an End-of-Life Care Doula. In my free time I read voraciously, knit, sew, bake, and ride my bike.

Corinne Sigmund

Hi! My name is Corinne Sigmund and I’m so excited to start my year with Life Together. I’m originally from San Francisco, and I just graduated from Vassar College with a Psychology major and Music Theory minor. At college, I spent a lot of time doing psychology research, working for a peer hotline, and singing in my college’s choir. I’m a lifelong Episcopalian and have been looking forward to participating in Episcopal Service Corps for a long time. My hope for this year is to grow as a person of faith and center God’s call to social justice in my life. I love going for walks and hikes, all things music, and playing with my dog.

Lisa Abraham

Hi! My name is Lisa Abraham. I am from Ethiopia and Kenya and grew up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I have been in the United States for about four years in Holland, Michigan studying at Hope College. I recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a minor in Communications. I have learned many things inside the classroom but I have learnt much more from my experiences outside of the classroom, so I am extremely excited for this next year. My passions include social justice, mental health and working with children. I am hoping that in this next year I will be able to figure out what my next steps in life will be. In my free time, I like to cook, read, and binge TV shows.

KAtie Davis

Hi everyone! My name is Katie, and I hail from New Albany, Mississippi. I graduated this spring from the University of Mississippi (go Landsharks!) with majors in public policy leadership and international studies. I am lucky that during my college years I was able to play intramurals, join a sorority, conduct research on women candidates for local office, work as a white-water kayaking instructor at an all-girls camp, and intern in Washington D.C. Probably my most formative experiences were getting to study in London, England and spend a semester in Valparaiso, Chile. My time in college, however, was often void of a close-knit spiritual community, until a friend brought me to a Bible study and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. Now, I am eager to be joining Life Together to continue growing from my Methodist roots in a community focused on compassion and spiritual exploration.

I am also super excited to work with 350 Massachusetts, and be able to work on an issue I really care about- climate pollution. I often feel my closest to God when I am immersed in nature, and I believe that our environment is one of most valuable gifts that we have been freely given. I can’t wait to learn from organizers in Boston who are working in communities across Massachusetts, a state that has led in climate policy innovation. I am also excited to help work to make the environmental lobbying space more racially and economically inclusive.

Outside of my policy interests, I love swimming, yoga, biking, and listening to poetry. I am thrilled to be able see snow this winter and explore the city in search of the best chickpea curry and ginger kombucha (takeout only per Covid-19).