狼友阁

Rachel (Kelley) Dodd 鈥�15 has known what she loves for a very long time. However, following her strengths has required a great deal of faith. Harboring an intense interest in biology and life sciences from a young age, when Rachel came to 狼友阁, she quickly chose to study environmental biology with a community development minor. Throughout her time at 狼友阁 and after graduation, Rachel has worn many hats, but each role has been a step towards the plans God had for her from the start.  

Seeking Sure Footing

Rachel lived in the Founders residence hall during her time at 狼友阁 and looks back fondly on the strong community there. She moved to the hall Gracewell her sophomore year, getting the unique experience of starting new hall traditions while enjoying building-wide Founders traditions as well. Even though she spent most of her time studying, Rachel found great encouragement in the community of 狼友阁, and those friendships sustained her as she figured out the places God was leading her.

While at 狼友阁, Rachel loved taking ecology with Dr. Wenger, interning at the Tennessee Aquarium, and attending in-depth biology classes in Costa Rica and Washington with the Au Sable Institute. These intensive, hands-on classes involved daily field work and brought her face-to-face with wildlife like orca whales. But even with all these experiences, Rachel knew it would take a lot to find a stable job in her field. 鈥淓ntry into any environmental education job is a leap of faith, because it is not well-funded鈥� so there are very few full-time jobs, unless you get into a manager position. It鈥檚 one of those things where you just have to do a lot of unpaid internships or entry-level stuff to get anywhere鈥� it鈥檚 like, 鈥榦kay, Lord, I love this, this is fun, and I鈥檓 glad to have this entry-level job, but You鈥檙e going to have to sustain me.鈥欌��

A Winding Path

After Rachel graduated, she got her first opportunity to work with reptiles and teach at an environmental education camp in Charleston. She was also able to work at Reflection Riding, Chattanooga鈥檚 nature center, and dabbled in some educational jobs until she ended up at the Chattahoochee Nature Center and the Dunwoody Nature Center