Rachel

Activities

• Colleges Against Cancer – A national collaboration of college students, faculty and staff dedicated to fighting cancer and volunteering for the American Cancer Society
• Mentor for the Boys & Girls ClubTeacher’s Aide for Volunteers in Schools, a Vital Instructional Service (Vis a Vis) – Provides students the opportunity to tutor children or to be a classroom teacher’s aide in area schools

Where is your favorite spot on campus to study?

Registered Student Organizations' Office in the Colleges Against Cancer Cubicle, #33

Where is your favorite spot on campus to hang out with your friends?

Sitting on the Quad

Where is your favorite spot on campus to relax?

The Quad

What is your favorite club or organization on campus that you are involved with?

Colleges Against Cancer

What do you like most about your major?

I love the dynamic discussions we delve into about educational issues in my classes.

What are your favorite courses within your major?

Curriculum and Instruction 467: Introduction to Children's Literature, because I love the way that profound topics are addressed in the most beautiful ways in children's books. Curriculum and Instruction 448: Teaching Elementary Social Studies and Curriculum and Instruction 447: Issues and Practices in Addressing Diversity because I love exploring and discussing the issues which affect our world and discovering ways to study these ideas with children.

What are your favorite extra curricular activities related to your major?

Being a Vis A Vis classroom aide in a first grade classroom and being a mentor for the cutest kid at the Boys and Girls Club!

What are your favorite extra curricular activities NOT related to your major?

Coordinating and enjoying Relay For Life with my best friends in Colleges Against Cancer, serving lunches at St. Jude's Catholic Worker House, organizing fun activities for kids at Hope Meadows, answering phones in Spanish and translating at the Eastern Illinois Refugee Center, playing games with kids at the Center For Women In Transition!

Describe your most memorable experience at Illinois.

I am OBSESSED with the contagious energy of the Quad around noon! At 11:50 thousands of students begin to pour out of the buildings that line the giant rectangle from the Union to Foellinger. All of a sudden a peaceful, beautiful Quad comes to life.

I can still remember my first Quad Day vividly. I remember the contagious energy that spread across the enormous grassy field in between the Illini Union and Foellinger. Thousands of sweaty, yet excited freshmen roamed around as they met students from the over 1,000 RSOs (registered student organizations) on campus. As a freshman, I was overwhelmed with the anticipation of getting involved in these amazing clubs and thus meeting spirited and passionate young leaders. Looking back upon that day, I remember feeling that these organizations would be the key to making me feel that I belonged on this gigantic campus. Well, I was right!

My experience at the University of Illinois has been a journey down a beautifully meandering path, and along the way I have discovered abundant resources and met heroes who have taught me lessons which I will cherish for the rest of my life.

• My friends in my dormitory taught me that profound conversations which last
  all night teach you more than any book.
• Cuvolunteer.org opened my eyes to the plethora of opportunities to make a difference in the local community.
• The children I met at the Center For Women In Transition taught me that
  preserving your childhood spirit and altruism is the key to happiness.
• Volunteer Illini Projects offered me the opportunity to share everything from pizza to cookie cakes with children from the community.
• Flyers on the pole by the Union allowed me to glimpse the myriad of activities and events one campus can offer.
• The student survivor speaker at Relay For Life taught me that even cancer cannot destroy a person’s love for life nor the love her friends and family feel for her.
• The students at Shabbat services at Hillel showed me that even though I was away from my family, I could maintain my cultural identity and spirit sitting with a new family of friends on Friday night.
• The dedicated volunteers at St. Jude’s Catholic Worker House opened my eyes to the profound needs for a free meal and toiletries within the local community.
• My peers in my education cohort taught me that even though people may disagree politically, they can still get along.
• Most importantly, my Colleges Against Cancer soul mates enlightened me with their unconditional commitment to freeing this world of cancer, although it had already stolen precious moments with their loved ones; thus, they showed me that hope is the strongest cure of all.

Each of these experiences and the people I have met along my path have shaped who I am and have helped me reach where I am today. I will cherish and live by their wisdom forever, and as a result, I feel well prepared for life after college. Although next year I will not have the opportunity to go to a Quad Day for the “real world,” I can apply the lessons I have learned at the University of Illinois as I explore the plethora of opportunities in my new community.

Why do you belong at Illinois?

I feel so blessed to be a part of a family of individuals who are here at the University of Illinois to achieve their personal dreams and to give back to their community. I feel that I have an instant connection with anyone I meet on campus. I feel that I have been able to make a permanent impact upon the University of Illinois as a result of my involvement in campus activities.