Alumni Spotlight: Alexandra Mullconnery
Alexandra Mullconnery is a recent graduate of OHS (Class of 2015), and now attends University of Texas at Austin. She is a nationally competitive equestrian, and works to help victims of sexual assault. Roald Fradkine catches up with Alexandra, and what she has been doing since graduating from OHS.
Pixel Journal: Hi, Alexandra! To start off, what's something that we might not know about you but really should?
Alexandra Mulconnery: My goal in life is that you really enjoy going to the doctor when you're older! No, really. Since graduating OHS, I've become very passionate about healthcare and luckily for me, UT Austin is building a new medical school with the core purpose of revolutionizing healthcare. McCombs, the business school at UT where I'm a student, is partnering with Dell Med, so I'm in the perfect place and time to be interested in the business of healthcare. It's cool and impactful stuff and has become my main pursuit in learning!
PJ: When did you join OHS and how long did you attend?
AM: I started at OHS in 2012 as a sophomore and attended until I graduated in 2015.
PJ: Why did you come to the OHS?
AM: I'm a competitive equestrian, which requires a lot of training and traveling. I wanted the flexibility of online school so I could pursue riding while I'm young still, but also wanted to attend a competitive school that would challenge me academically (even AP courses at top-rated public high schools are pretty boring) and help me get into a competitive and challenging college as well. Stanford OHS is the only school out there that could offer me both, so it was a match!
PJ: What did you enjoy most about your time at OHS?
AM: I enjoyed the freedom to explore my larger pursuits. Now that I'm in college, I realize OHS is actually very similar to the experience most people have at university. Rather than being stuck in a classroom all day with a prescribed schedule, at OHS you can study what you want, join or start organizations that interest you, and pursue what you love outside of school too. You meet so many amazing people at OHS, even though you all live in different cities or even countries. Every student has outside passions they pursue to an incredible degree and they carry that passion, experience, and enthusiasm over to the classroom where the teachers are happy to reciprocate and mentor. I'm still best friends with people I met virtually at OHS and now see them in different cities every few months. I'm also still close with many of the teachers I had while at OHS, whose academic experience, teaching ability, and passion are really unmatched compared to other high schools.
PJ: Looking back, what (if anything) would you change about your years spent at OHS?
AM: I think the only thing I would change would be to enjoy it more. It's a time where you really do have so much freedom to explore, have fun, and not be bound to any physical building. Take advantage of that and don't be scared to make online friends (it isn't as weird as it seems) because they may very well become your best friends for life and you'll get amazing opportunities to travel and see them at the same time, which is pretty cool.
PJ: Do you have any tips for current students of OHS?
AM: Following my answer above, you can really get a head start on college at OHS. Pursue what you love and actively find people involved in things you're interested in. Ask them about it. Ask teachers to connect you to people who know more about it or are doing some cool research. Pursue anything you find that might interest you until you've exhausted it and figured out you want to do something else. Treat finding your life's work and passion like your main job and school as a means to achieve it.
PJ: What have you been doing since you graduated?
AM: Since I graduated I've been studying in the Business Honors Program at The University of Texas at Austin. I volunteer as a sexual assault medical advocate and have gotten involved in the activist community at UT, particularly around interpersonal violence. I even started my own organization, Steps for Survivors, that hosts an annual walk to raise money for a fund (for things like changing their locks, legal fees, and even expenses related to living and school) that is accessible by UT students that are survivors of interpersonal violence. I also started volunteering at Dell's Children Hospital and was recently tapped for Orange Jackets, a selective service organization of women dedicated to scholarship, leadership, and service and also one of the oldest organizations on campus. The Tap class works on a year-long project that in some way improves the community in a sustainable way, so I'm currently beginning to work on that with the other 20 girls!
PJ: What is the most meaningful thing you do?
AM: My work as a sexual assault medical advocate is probably the most meaningful. I do a lot of other service and advocacy work, but there is nothing so direct as working with someone in the midst of possibly the most traumatic moment of their life. I always feel very honored and humbled to get to hold that space with them, and it reminds me why I do the rest of the work I do to prevent sexual assault before it gets to that point. I enjoy being able to share resources and support with someone, especially because I never knew about them before and many victims are shocked to know that there's so many community resources for them and that Safeplace (a shelter and advocacy center where all exams in Austin are done now) exists.
PJ: How did OHS prepare you for pursuits in college, whether they be academic or not?
AM: Oh man, OHS prepares you really well for college. I can't speak for all schools of course, but my first semester at UT was very comparable to OHS classes, if not a little bit easier without the heavy philosophy and literature classes. My American History textbook was exactly the same as the one we had at OHS and tests were also the same format. I felt very prepared, especially because I was already used to reading a lot of outside of class, structuring my own day, and only getting a midterm and a final to make your grade for a course.
PJ: Looking forward, what do you plan for the distant and not so distant future?
AM: I'm trying to go into healthcare administration or consulting, so currently life is mostly about learning as much as I can about the industry. We get a lot of cool opportunities to network and attend lectures and discussions outside of the classroom, so when I'm not busy with school, riding, or my student organization/service work, I'm trying to take advantage of these! Oh, one last piece of advice, enjoy your summers before you start having internships or working for all of them!
PJ: You have a great deal of experience working towards solving issues that matter to you. What advice do you have for OHS’ers who might also feel passionately about an issue but don’t know where to start?
AM: Find organizations that are working towards what you're passionate about and ask them what you can do. I started out by getting involved in online activism (reading articles, posting about them, blogging, finding organizations on social media, etc). I then found a local organization that I could work with, and began pursuing their various training and volunteer opportunities. If an organization isn’t out there that you can work with, start your own!
PJ: Last but not least. Favorite way to unwind after a long week of hard work?
AM: I really enjoy the time I set aside for working out (lifting mostly and some plyo). I think it helps me be more productive and happier besides healthier. I've been sick and am hating the time off actually! Finding a workout routine that maximizes your happiness is super important.