![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2019\/05\/Spotlight-683x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Caity Healy<\/strong> | Editor-in-Chief<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such an integral part of my life, and I don\u2019t know how it got to that point. I can\u2019t imagine my life without sports,\u201d said Rachel Bayly. A cross-country and track athlete in her junior year as a Wolf, Bayly has been involved in some sport \u2014 either cross country, track or basketball, and at times, all three \u2014 her entire life. So accustomed to that setting as part of her everyday life, it altered the way she experienced her time her at Western.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cComing here \u2026 the team was such a family. So it made that transition to college so much easier,\u201d commented Bayly. <\/span><\/p>\n But on top of the close-knit community she built with those around her each day, it changed her college experience in other ways, too. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt teaches me time-management,\u201d said Bayly. \u201cIt\u2019s just this understanding that \u2026 I\u2019m going to go to school but I\u2019m also going to take on this other thing.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Bayly grew up in Moscow, Idaho. A small town with a population around 25,000, according to census.gov. Although there\u2019s often an idea that small towns leave teens with nothing to do, Bayly always kept herself busy. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was a three-sport athlete back in high school,\u201d said Bayly. \u201cSo, definitely a lot going on. There was a one-day break between cross-country and basketball. I was always going.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Aside from athletics, Bayly maintained a full schedule.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy mom owns a daycare back in Moscow, so I worked at the daycare \u2026 So I\u2019d get out of school, go and pick kids up from elementary school, take them back, do homework with them, then I\u2019d go to practice,\u201d said Bayly.<\/span><\/p>\n Any free time that Bayly came across usually happened during the summer. When she had it, she took advantage of it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot to do in Moscow,\u201d explained Bayly. \u201cBut I\u2019d go downtown with friends. I have a lot of family in Moscow \u2026 so weekends with family, barbecues and stuff like that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The small town charm that Bayly found with Moscow actually played a part in why she ended up coming to Western. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMonmouth reminded me of Moscow. The farm fields all around, the trees\u2026 it\u2019s really nice,\u201d said Bayly. She also added that she came here because, \u201cit was kind of the size of the school I was looking for \u2026 and then also the fact that the coach asked me to run on the cross country team was really exciting.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Now a student at Western, Bayly\u2019s major is interdisciplinary studies with focuses in early childhood education and social science. With that, she hopes to go into policy making to help low-income families afford high quality care for their children. But her absolute dream job goes even deeper than that.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard because I\u2019ve always had this vision of every kid in the United States having access to high quality early care \u2026 and every kid is loved and cared for in an awesome environment \u2014 I have no idea how to make that happen,\u201d said Bayly. \u201cSo maybe my dream job would be a CEO of a nonprofit that\u2019s doing amazing things for kids, or maybe a really influential policy writer … So I don\u2019t know, I\u2019m still figuring out the path.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n As a student in a town that\u2019s 419 miles away from where she calls home, Bayly still manages to find ways to keep herself busy outside of her sport of the season. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI like to read. I\u2019m reading \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d right now so I\u2019m avoiding social media because I don\u2019t want spoilers from the show,\u201d said Bayly. \u201cI like hikes and being outside \u2026 my sister and I just went on a backpacking trip over spring break \u2026 And, of course, working with kids whenever I can.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n For those curious, Bayly\u2019s favorite hike she has ever been on was to Opal Creek, when she went early in the season with her roommates last year, and her favorite book of all time was either \u201cKite Runner\u201d or \u201cLord of the Rings.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n As for her future as an athlete, Bayly expressed emotion towards one sport that she has been neglecting in recent years.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI really miss basketball, and I\u2019m hoping to get into a rec-league or something,\u201d she said. As for running, though, her plans for the future are clear.<\/span><\/p>\n