Profile #4: Rachel

Rachel- Hebrew word meaning “lamb".

Rachel was born in a not-so-good neighborhood in Tampa, Florida. She has one half brother who sadly got involved in the activities in the area when he was sixteen and has ended up in jail. However, her brother still loves her very much and she does write to him whenever she can. They both know he just needs a little time to get everything in his life all straightened out and she understands that therefore, she thinks of him no less then she did before.

When she was younger Rachel danced. She was a dancer for ten years and loved every minute of it. One day her mom passed away and they could no longer afford to pay for dance lessons or competitions. Her mom was very special to her and she learned a lot about how life should work through her mother. Her mother, Pamela, was a lawyer who fought for those who were discriminated against at their jobs. Rachel took from that and kept that way of thinking, no one should be treated differently based on who they are or what they look like.

Despite the fact that she could no longer dance that didn't stop her from doing any extracurricular activities. When she was in 6th grade she learned how to play the violin and in 7th she started to run track. By time she got to high school she was truly the track star of her district. She was a middle distance runner and her junior year she placed 5th in the state meet. (That's the highest meet you can get to in high school.) Senior year she had that make it or break it race. She was running the 800m in the state meet. In first place she had it, only 20m left... when she saw the finish line and got too excited and ended up getting passed twice ending in 3rd by milliseconds with a time of 2:15. Although she didn't get first she still got a D1 full ride scholarship to UNF.

Her love for track however was similar to her love for music. Her dad taught her how to appreciate art and music and that made most of who she is now. She loves him more than anything in the world and he truly is her biggest fan. Rachel had a certain passion when it came to music and worked super hard during her first class which allowed her to move up to more advanced classes in only a year. She ended up getting the highest position as concert master for both orchestras by the end of high school.

Through high school Rachel didn't make many friends. She succeeded on her own and it got a little lonely but she was okay. She did have a best friend named Janessa who have made so many memories and is truly her best friend. They did everything a typical dynamic duo would do from sneaking out to lunch to going on long drives to nowhere to going to dive bar concerts together. They even have matching tattoos.

Rachel only did track her freshman year at UNF. She found that when doing track she could no longer live her life and as much as she loved running he couldn't keep up. She still kept one thing on the team close to her and that was her boyfriend Travis. He ran the mile much like her and they connected instantly. Today they are still together and super happy.

After she quit running, Rachel had much more time to work on her writing career. She became an editor of Spinnaker Magazine. However, she ended up switching her degree to from communications/multimedia journalism to graphic design which fits her lifestyle much better... even though she is the only one in her class that can't really draw.

Nowadays, you can find Rachel eating McDonalds (she does like to cook and try out new resturants) while watching LOST or puppy videos. That or she is out at her favorite bar with her best friends singing karaoke and talking for hours.

She is one of the best friends you could ask for and if you every just want someone or need someone to listen Rachel is one of those people who will be there for anyone without a single judgement made.

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