Rachel graduated from Chetek High School in 2002. That fall she attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., majoring in English. Upon graduation she received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in English with a certification to teach high school language arts. In college she was involved in theater, in residence halls leadership and with the Education Department's student organization. 

 

Rachel is currently a writer/reporter at The Chetek Alert, and also does some photography. She has been at the Alert since Nov. 2006. There haven't been advancements to really speak of, but she has loved being able to get out and meet so many members of the community and learn things that she may have never paid attention to otherwise. Rachel has covered everything from city council and school board meetings to the accolades or deaths of soldiers who've fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. It has truly given her a perspective of this community that a lot of people don't get to see.

 

She does not know where she sees herself professionally in the next 10 years, but she hopes to continue writing and maintaining involvement within the community. 

 

The scholarships from CASF helped her out immensely. St. Olaf is an expensive school and she basically had to pay for it herself. She needed all of the help she could get and it was nice to have the extra scholarship from CASF to offset the costs. 

 

Rachel's experience at Chetek High School did help her prepare for college mainly because there were so many activities and clubs that she could get involved in to explore options for her future. She had an opportunity to explore many of her interests, which helped her solidify what she wanted to study in college. But, she also had chances to get involved in activities that she didn't know much about, which broadened her horizons. Rachel got to go places and do things through those organizations that she may never do again. Rachel says that when being a reporter for a newspaper, you have to jump into a lot of things you know nothing about, but being willing to try different things in high school has helped her be more willing to do that as she got into her career. Rachel also took tougher classes and tried to advance herself academically, which helped her prepare for the rigors of college studies. Rachel could've taken easy classes and shorted herself, but having challenging classes available to her allowed her get a better feel for what college would be like.

And that is Rachel's advice for underclassmen, too—get involved in as much as you can and try different things because you never know who'll you'll meet or what you'll learn along the way. And start early—you'll have more fun throughout your school career. Also, stay away from the drama that often traps young people. It will make life a lot easier.