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When you talk to Rachel Albright, you immediately get the sense that she is strong, confident, and determined. Determined to be the best person she can, and also to help others see the best in themselves. As the shelter coordinator for Safe Harbor, she spends her days advocating for shelter clients, and anyone in the community, who needs support to get back on their feet after trauma. The 22-year-old manages the shelter\u2019s daily operations, provides crisis counseling, assists with caseload management, leads awareness projects, and more. \u201cI love seeing people successfully restart their lives after a traumatic event, and being a part of that even if it\u2019s in a small way. It\u2019s vital to see that there are people out there who can overcome so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
For anyone who knows Rachel, it\u2019s no surprise that the recent college graduate is in her current position with Safe Harbor. She works hard, and isn\u2019t afraid to go after her goals, whether that means being the kicker on an otherwise all-male football team in high school, recruiting herself to play college softball, or moving thousands of miles away from home to further her education. Until a handful of years ago, Rachel had spent her entire life living in Pasadena, California, a busy city located just northeast of downtown Los Angeles with a combined urban population in the millions. She had to consult a map to know just where Aberdeen was, and got her first glimpse of South Dakota on the drive between the Sioux Falls Airport and NSU\u2019s campus. Her initial impression of the state, with all its \u201copen land, abandoned farms, and dead animals on the side of the road,\u201d was understandably, \u201cWhat have I gotten myself into?\u201d<\/p>\n
Since she was just seven years old, Rachel knew she wanted to play college softball. Her love of sports started at an early age. \u201cGrowing up, there was always a ball rolling around in our backyard, or some kind of sports game on TV.\u201d At age six, she started playing soccer every fall. Her mom wanted her to also have a sport to play in the spring, so she decided to give softball a try. The joke in her family today is that it was actually a helmet that convinced Rachel to stay in softball for more than just one season. \u201cOn try-out day they gave us these helmets, mine was navy with mini butterflies and sparkles and had my name spray painted on it in this purple, pink, and white tri-layered color. When I brought it home to show my mom and she found out it cost $60 she said, \u2018Well now you have to play for two seasons!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
After her first year of softball though, sparkly helmet or not, Rachel knew that she had definitely found her sport. She started taking pitching lessons, and by her freshman year of high school, was actively looking at softball programs in colleges all over the country. She posted videos on YouTube of her skills, and one of these grabbed the attention of former NSU assistant women\u2019s softball coach, Travis Owen. He emailed Rachel, but she says she was more interested in universities on the East Coast and in the southern part of the country. Eventually, she emailed Travis back, and after he saw her playing in a game in Colorado, he invited her to visit NSU. Despite the culture shock of seeing South Dakota for the first time, she says when she stepped onto NSU\u2019s campus she knew it was the right place for her to be. \u201cI had toured a lot of colleges at that point, and I really liked the community feel around NSU and Aberdeen. The campus was small, but not too small, and even after being here for only 48 hours, I could see how the people rallied around the college and supported the students. It was ultimately the community aspect of Aberdeen that drew me in. I felt welcomed.\u201d<\/p>\n