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Rachel Beals
B.A. Liberal Studies, 2009
Whether she works directly with an individual or looks at systemic change, Rachel Beals says her main priority is to reduce the isolation and despair so many people face today.
She has used healing arts and spiritual practices with vulnerable populations, such as those experiencing homelessness and incarceration. And her full-time job as a program assistant "Since beginning Antioch, I have co-founded a local meditation group and lead the Buddhist program at a Washington state corrections facility. Antioch definitely contributed to my self-confidence in taking these projects on."for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation focuses on reducing poverty and inequity in the United States.
Beals says her future work is now starting to unfold.
"Since beginning Antioch, I have co-founded a local meditation group and lead the Buddhist program at a Washington state corrections facility. Antioch definitely contributed to my self-confidence in taking these projects on," she notes.
She is one of many Antioch B.A. students to describe the empowerment of gaining academic credit for life experience (prior learning).
"Writing my priors gave a context to my life experience that has truly empowered me to use my personal understanding in the service of my community," she says.
Beals says she knows she wouldn't receive the same type of education at a public school.
"The Spiritual Studies concentration is one of a kind for an undergraduate program. I also wanted something grounded in both experiential and academic learning," she explains.
"In a day and age where we are flooded with information, the ability to hear and give value to one's own voice is key," Beals tells prospective students. "Antioch teaches you to integrate direct life experience with academic study. At the end of the day, you are set with a knowledge base that is based not only on book smarts, but also real life understanding."
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