Welcoming our New Yale Interns: Rebecca and Drake
June 14 and June 21
We are delighted to welcome two interns from Yale Divinity School to Pullen this summer.
Drake Smith will be preaching on June 14
Drake is a native of Odenton, Maryland, Drake Smith is a candidate for the Master of Arts in Religion at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut.
In addition to his degree program, he studies with Yale’s Center for Public Theology and Public Policy; Yale’s Black Church Studies Certificate Program, and the Yale Center for Civic Thought. His current research interests are Black politics, the Black church, United Methodist studies, and the history of historically Black colleges and universities.
A lifelong United Methodist, he holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Lincoln University of Pennsylvania [May 2025], the nation’s first degree-granting HBCU. During his undergrad years, he served as student government president, student trustee, intern to the university president, campus docent, and was initiated into Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated. He was also selected as a White House HBCU Scholar and a Thurgood Marshall College Fund Leadership Institute Scholar.
His fondest memories from college are his time on the Lincoln University trivia team where he competed against other teams in quizbowl matches at the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge. Notably, he was the 2024 winner of the Black College Quiz national television series.
Drake has held various board positions between Maryland and Pennsylvania, and worked on different political campaigns. During his senior year of high school from 2020–2021, he had the honor of serving as the Student Member of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education.
A fan of the Baltimore Orioles, and lover of Maryland Blue Crabs, he considers himself a lifelong learner, and is most happy engaging with new people and their ideas.
Rebecca Park will be preaching on June 21
Rebecca Park is a second-year Master of Divinity candidate at Yale Divinity School pursuing a Certificate with the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy. Her research interests include Asian American studies, World Christianity, and Christian nationalism in the US and abroad.
As a pastor’s and missionary kid moving across the U.S., China, and South Korea, she has a wide range of international experiences informing her work and studies. She graduated from Williams College in 2022 with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science, where she was a leader in the Williams Christian Fellowship, Gospel Choir, and the Telos, a journal of Christian discourse.
Upon graduation, she went to Taiwan as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant for two years, where she supported English language learning for elementary and university students. The year prior to Divinity School, she volunteered at the Taizé monastic community in France, walked the Camino de Santiago, and bike packed around Taiwan. Her future career plans include chaplaincy and work at the intersections of faith, social justice, and public policy. In her free time, she enjoys reading non-academic books, being outdoors, and is training for a marathon in the fall.
