Alumni

My name is Rachael Valera. I attended the ILTexas Garland Campus from 2013-2017. ILTexas played a big role in determining some of my future career decisions. During the years I attended, I had the opportunity to travel to China twice with the ILTexas summer program. I discovered my love for studying languages and decided to major in Arabic when I started college at the University of Oklahoma (OU). I was also a part of the Marine Corps JROTC program. When my dad encouraged me to think about ROTC in college, I consulted my JROTC instructor at the time, Lt. Col. Hauser. He talked with me about my options and graciously wrote me a letter of recommendation which helped me to be accepted into the Air Force ROTC program at OU. Four years later, I graduated with a B.A. in Arabic and commissioned into the Air Force. While in ROTC, I was accepted into the Space Force so this month, the month I am writing this, December 2021, I will be commissioning into the Space Force as an Intelligence Officer. This is truly a dream come true. I am so grateful to Lt. Col. Hauser, Mrs. Marx, and all the other teachers and staff at ILT who encouraged me, corrected me, taught me, and mentored me. Boomer sooner, and Semper Supra!!