Chapter 3
Choosing a Path
Rachel started college in the fall of 1925, during the middle of the “roaring twenties.” It was only a sixteen-mile car ride from Springdale to Pennsylvania College for Women, but it was like another world for Rachel.
Rachel’s mother had wanted her daughter to study at an all-girls school that was close to home. Mrs. Carson thought Pennsylvania College for Women, in Pittsburgh, would be the perfect place. Rachel was happy to go along with her mother’s choice, but the cost of the first year of college would be a thousand dollars, and the Carsons did not have that much money to spend on Rachel’s education. Fortunately, the dean at the college wanted Rachel to come and study there, so the school gave her a scholarship. They also helped Rachel get a loan that covered the rest of her tuition, as well as room and board and all of Rachel’s books.
College was a new challenge for shy Rachel. She didn’t have as much money as a lot of her classmates did. She didn’t have fancy clothes like they had. And Rachel couldn’t afford to go to the movies or go get a soda with them. (She had even borrowed a Model T Ford to make the trip from Springdale!) It must have been hard for Rachel not to be able to join her classmates when they went out. But she always reminded herself that she was at college to learn and not to play.
Because she wanted to be a writer, Rachel decided to study English literature and composition at college. Rachel’s English teacher was Miss Grace Croff. She quickly became Rachel’s favorite teacher. And Rachel soon became one of Miss Croff’s favorite students. She admired Rachel’s determination and saw that Rachel had real talent.
But English literature and composition classes weren’t the only ones that Rachel had to take at college. For her music requirement, Rachel decided to play the violin. And in her second year at Pennsylvania College for Women, Rachel had to take a science course. She chose biology, which is the study of plant and animal life. Although she loved nature, Rachel didn’t really want to take a science course, because her science classes in high school had been dull and boring.
However, Miss Mary Skinker’s biology class changed Rachel’s mind about studying science. Miss Skinker had the same passion for the natural world as Rachel did. And Rachel was thrilled when the biology classes included field trips to nearby state parks.
On one trip Miss Skinker had all the students split apart layers of rock with hammers and chisels. Rachel hit a piece of dull, gray rock. When the piece broke open, what a surprise she found! Inside the rock was a fossil of a fish that had swum in an ancient ocean. Miss Skinker explained that this dry, rocky area near the college had been at the bottom of an ocean a very long time ago.
Rachel also loved finding out about how living things moved and breathed and ate. As part of her class, she had to dissect animals. The class cut open and looked at grasshoppers, frogs, and starfish. While some of the students thought it was a messy job, it fascinated Rachel. She was learning how the wildlife she loved lived and grew.
Miss Skinker’s biology class excited Rachel so much that she decided to take more science classes. Her main interest was zoology, which is the study of animal life. And it was the animals that lived in the sea that fascinated Rachel the most.
Rachel’s grades in English classes were excellent, and she loved learning from Miss Croff. But Rachel also loved science classes. She had to make a decision and choose between studying English or science. Rachel worried that if she switched to studying science, she would miss English classes and writing. And if she focused on English, Rachel would no longer have Miss Skinker teaching her about the beauty of the natural world.
One night while she was sitting in her dorm room, Rachel took a book of poetry off her shelf. As a storm blew outside, she opened the book to a poem called “Locksley Hall.” The main character in the poem had to make a hard decision, just like Rachel. One line in the poem jumped out at Rachel as she sat on her bed, listened to the storm, and tried to decide what to do. The line was, “For the mighty wind arises, roaring seaward, and I go.”
The words stuck in Rachel’s head. She read them over and over again. At that point Rachel was convinced that somehow her life would be connected to the sea as well. She decided that she would choose a life as a scientist rather than a life as a writer.
