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Rachel Jacquielyn Harwell - Honors Freshman
 Though born in Odessa, Rachel has also lived in Crane, Big Spring and El Paso during her short life. She comes to us from Coronado High School in El Paso.
About her decision to come to St. Thomas, Rachel revealed that, “God working in mysterious ways is what led me to learning about St. Thomas and, eventually, deciding it was the university for me.”
When nudged further about what she meant, Rachel finally told the story of how she ended up at UST. “I really had no ideas as to where I wanted to go to college,” Rachel admitted. “I was never really worried about it because I knew everything would work out.” At her brother’s urging, she applied to Rice University. “To be honest, I never wanted to attend Rice, but I simply felt I’d apply there to buy a bit of time,” revealed Rachel.
Having already made up her mind not to go to Rice, Rachel was doing intensive research into other colleges, filling out many, many applications, though her family never realized it and was growing anxious thinking she was just procrastinating. Still, despite applying to all those colleges, Rachel did not know what her choice for college would be.
When a friend jokingly suggested that she should go to Map Quest and do map searches until she found a university, Rachel did just that. A search of the Houston museum area turned up the University of St. Thomas. She filled out the application that night, and as people say, “the rest is history.”
When she received a brochure in the mail introducing her to the Honors Program, Rachel was not convinced Honors was right for her. “At first, I wasn’t too keen on the idea of willingly taking on extra burdens,” said Rachel, “but, after talking it over with some friends, I realized I wouldn’t be happy if I knew I wasn’t being as challenged by my work as possible.”
With plans to double-major in English and Philosophy and minor in Theology at UST, Rachel will certainly be challenged. After college graduation, she’s thinking of joining the Peace Corps or become a chaplain in the military. In the meantime, Rachel likes to spend her time reading, writing, playing video games, painting, and “like any other well-rounded teenager, sleep.” Other than that, she likes to collect hats and participate in aviation archaeology, exploring airplane crash sites. |
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