Alumni Profiles

B.A., Peace & Conflict Studies and Religious Studies (double major), 2008

Master of theological studies candidate, with a focus on religion ethics and politics

Harvard Divinity School

Cambridge, Mass.

To watch an interview with Garrett, click here.

“Do not,” cautions Garrett FitzGerald, speaking through his world-class beard with the voice of experience, “do not enroll at Guilford College unless you are prepared to be transformed as a person. Because it WILL happen.” 

He explains: “If you take your education seriously, Guilford College will definitely open your eyes to new horizons. I’ll admit that it’s not always easy, but it is always for the best.”  

A native of Louisville, Ky., Garrett describes his four years in Greensboro in eloquent terms: “My time at Guilford College shaped my life in such a fundamental and dynamic way that hardly a day goes by when I don't find myself calling upon the experiences, the knowledge and the values that the school helped nurture in me. Guilford College provided me with more than an education; it helped me develop confidence in the principles and purposes that define who I am. My time there made me a better person.” 

A large man, was Garrett a college athlete? ” He points out that even though he did not participate as a team member of any recognized varsity sport, he did room with a handful of athletes one year. “It was a great introduction to that world for me,” he says. “I became a huge, and I mean HUGE, soccer fan.” 

Garrett praises the bridge-building between athletes and non-athletes at Guilford College: “When you have a college that features an African drumming band playing halftime at basketball games, for instance, you know that an effort is being made to find ways for those worlds to coexist, to affirm the other side. Every school has the different worlds, but Guilford seeks ways to face those normal challenges creatively, to tap into the other side’s passion. Guilford makes the effort to develop a real sense of community.” 

He says that he and the roomies even had T-shirts made up that displayed the faces of the soccer players he lived with, and he wore those shirts to the games for support. “Truthfully, when one of my guys would get roughed up in a game, it wasn’t unusual to hear this Quaker use more than his share of coarse language. Loudly.” 

Garrett goes on to praise the community-wide efforts to bridge normal divides. “There were concerted efforts by faculty members, administration and students themselves — these were organic initiatives, such as where the Guilford students prepared potluck dishes to serve to the cafeteria works on Days of Appreciation. Students also did a luncheon for maintenance workers. It was incredible. What a community.” 

That feeling of community played a major role in Garrett’s choosing to enroll at Guilford. When he toured the campus, he discovered warmth and hospitality among the people he encountered: “There was a real feeling of satisfaction — people were genuinely glad to be at Guilford College, and I did not find that at any of the other schools I visited.” 

Even though Garrett is a Quaker now, studying at Harvard Divinity School, he was raised Presbyterian. “I gravitated to the Quaker faith because it is open to the kind of work I am interested in — which Guilford College supports — the values of community, diversity, equality, excellence, integrity, justice, and stewardship.” 

Garrett says that he had an almost frightening realization at Guilford College: “It was both scary and wonderful to realize that the things we were talking about in class keep their relevance outside the classroom and — this is most important — to realize that you do, in fact, now have the tools to make a difference, to make the world better. That knowledge was empowering.” 

Garrett spent the spring semester of his sophomore year studying religion at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. He says that the experience abroad gave him a “much broader perspective of life. I had taken a global perspective class at Guilford, and now I was living it. I developed an even great conviction that I was on the right path.” 

He’s still on that path at Harvard, focusing on peace work. “I wanted to do graduate work in peace studies,” he says, “and at Harvard, the religious studies program lets me focus on that. Plus, the resources at Harvard are just astonishing … and the school gave me a full ride on tuition, so I couldn’t turn that down.” 

While attending Harvard, Garrett is sharing an apartment with three other Guilford College alumni. “We were all in the same Guilford graduating class,” he says, “but we had never roomed together. Being together now certainly makes the transition to graduate school very easy.” Two of his apartment mates are at Harvard’s American Repertory Theatre, and Guilford College President Kent Chabotar (who occasionally teaches at the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education) recently visited and treated the Guilford-Harvard students to dinner. 

What’s in store for Garrett FitzGerald after graduating from Harvard Divinity School? “I don’t know. Maybe a Ph.D.; maybe teaching, eventually. My biggest fear about the future is that I might not fully utilize my Guilford College and Harvard University education. I mean, it’s a privilege that I’ve been given, and I have a responsibility to put that privilege to its greatest use.” 

We have no doubt that he will. Oh, and what’s the story on that beard? Is it so he’ll look, well, like a Quaker? “Yes, and because without it I look 12 years old.”