For Rachel, an economics and Hispanic studies double major from Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, the journey to the All-College Symposium didn’t begin at Connecticut College.

“I actually started my college career at Penn State University,” she explains. “When I was completing transfer applications, I really felt that what was missing from my college experience was a way to combine my majors in a meaningful way. I knew Connecticut College was where I was meant to be as soon as I heard about the Connections program.”

At Conn, she found her place in the Global Capitalism Pathway and began conducting research in the local community. “I realized New London has a large Hispanic population that is disproportionately low income and homeless. After completing my sophomore Pathway seminar, I realized that the economic inequality I was exploring was systematically achieved and deeply ingrained in our capitalist system,” she says.

That realization shaped Rachel’s scholarly efforts and will culminate in her All-College Symposium presentation, “How Does Ethnicity Impact Hispanic Communities in Our Global Capitalist System?”

“Concentrating [all my work at Conn] into one presentation while thinking deeply about my takeaways, I realized for the first time that I had truly achieved my goal of doing something, independently, that was meaningful and impactful during my time in the classroom,” she enthuses. “I feel so excited for the Symposium to have the opportunity to share with friends, faculty and family all the work I've done during my time in College: What it has meant to me, what it has taught me, and how it has shaped me into the person I am today.”

Now, Rachel is hard at work on her honors thesis, an economic analysis exploring the labor market impacts of mass deportation. After graduation, she hopes to move to Boston to continue working with Hispanic communities or in immigration aid.