What’s in a Name?<\/header>\nBorn and raised in New Jersey, Patel says her first name is often mispronounced in places abroad but never domestically in India where her parents were born. The name, which means \u201cwhere the sun meets the Earth on the east horizon\u201d is pronounced: PRAH-chee.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n
\u201cDr. Patten, who I absolutely adore, was like, \u2018You know what you should try out? My debate class,\u2019\u201d Patel recalls. \u201cSo I took his class, and I think that\u2019s really what kicked it off for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patel, who says she had also considered pursuing a law degree before opting to major in biology, immediately joined the Debate Hawks. She also took a political science class with Ken Mitchell, which in turn inspired her to change her major to political science with a concentration in international relations and a minor in legal studies. Then she joined the Model UN Team and Political Science Club, became president of the Pi Sigma Alpha Honors Society, and earned a spot in the Washington Center Internship Program last spring, where she interned with the Peace Corps.<\/p>\n
She credits Monmouth\u2019s small class sizes and, in particular, the professors in the political science department with helping her find her way and catapulting her toward success.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I would have been able to have the relationships I do with my professors if I didn\u2019t have the small class sizes because they wouldn\u2019t know me!\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I would not be able to do all of these things if I didn\u2019t have all of these professors helping me.\u201d<\/p>\n
With aspirations to become a prosecutor, followed possibly by a career in teaching law at the college level, Patel says all of her experiences at Monmouth have combined to help lay the foundation she needs for success.<\/p>\n
As a Debate Hawk, she volunteers with the Asbury Park High School Debate Team, where she mentors students. She gained real-world experience via the Peace Corps internship, where she supported the team that delegated volunteer assignments internationally.<\/p>\n
Her international contacts expanded during her Model UN trips to London, which for Patel, have been eye-opening and life-changing\u2014literally. While on her second trip, Mitchell connected Patel with some of his former students. Those interactions inspired her to change her post-graduate course: Rather than going straight to law school, she plans on pursuing her master\u2019s in development studies at the University of London\u2019s School of Oriental and African Studies.<\/p>\n
Despite the rocky start, Patel says her college career is ending on a high note. One of the highlights came just last semester during the Model UN awards ceremony at the University of Oxford.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ceremony was held in the Sheldonian Theatre, which is the hall that the Oxford students graduate in, and when they said my name, it was just such a cool, surreal experience,\u201d she says. \u201cThey mispronounced it\u2014but I was like \u2018Wow, they just said my name in the Sheldonian!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A major change\u2014and some Monmouth connections abroad\u2014have Prachi Patel charting a new course for after graduation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"image_focus":"{\"x\":62,\"y\":33}","hide_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-currents","category-tides"],"thumbnail":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2018\/04\/PrachiPatelv2.jpg\")
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