Raechel Meyers | Student

Pleasant Surprises

DePauw was the last school Raechel Meyers ’28 applied to. Even after she had been accepted and offered a Sanger Leadership Award, she still wasn’t quite sold. It wasn’t until she visited campus a few days before the decision deadline that her outlook changed

“I hadn't loved anywhere else that I saw,” says Meyers. “But I came here and everybody was very kind. It was a friendly place, but also a place with a lot of academic opportunities. Something about it felt like a reward for all the hard work I'd done in high school.”

Meyers decided to call DePauw home, and her experience has proven that she made the right choice. In the classroom, she’s exploring her passions as an anthropology major and a creative writing minor, with ambitions of attending graduate school and pursuing a career in physical anthropology. Throughout the rest of campus, she’s using her platform as a leader to create welcoming spaces and foster meaningful connections for her peers.

“The thing about DePauw is that there’s so much to get involved in,” she says. “I’ve never had a hard time finding things I was interested in. I went to the activities fair my freshman year and made a little note in my phone of all the stuff I wanted to do. I ended up getting involved in all of them, at least in some way.”

Meyers is a Sanger scholar, a Hillman intern, an editor for A Midwestern Review and a member of the Honor Scholar Program. But perhaps the most unexpected outlet for involvement has been her sorority house, Alpha Chi Omega.

“It’s another thing that surprised me about DePauw,” she says. “I knew about the Greek life statistics, and it was actually one of the cons on my list about coming here. But I’ve found that I like the community and the opportunity to live with other women and have that connection. I didn’t expect to, but that’s been one of the nice surprises of being at DePauw. My entire experience here has been pleasant surprises.”

As a member of Alpha Chi Omega’s executive board, Meyers has not only been an advocate for hospitality and belonging, she’s also grown into a leader driven by a deep appreciation for teamwork and collaboration. 

“Being a leader means making sure everybody's perspective is considered,” she explains. “I make a lot of group decisions in my house, but just because you're a leader and you might have the authority on something, it doesn't mean it's just your decision or that other people have nothing to add.”

It’s all part of the unexpected journey — and personal transformation — Meyers has experienced in just a few short years in Greencastle.

“At DePauw, you’re going to be challenged and you’re going to be uncomfortable. But you’re going to go for it. I think discomfort is the biggest provider of growth, and DePauw has made me comfortably uncomfortable in a lot of ways — academically and also socially. I am a person that I would never have expected to be when I first came to DePauw.”

Hometown: Dayton, OH
Major: Anthropology
Minor: Creative writing
Activities: Alpha Chi Omega, A Midwestern Review, Honor Scholar, Hillman intern, Sanger scholar