Emily Mitchell

Honors College student puts her passport to the test—and gets A+

• Hometown: Oak Ridge, Tenn.
• High School: Oak Ridge High School
• Major: Double major in mathematics and religious studies
• Video (1:33)

Two words aptly describe Emily Mitchell's college experience: study abroad.

Mitchell, a McNair scholar, spent her junior year studying in Ecuador, traveled to Japan during winter break to conduct research for her South Carolina Honors College thesis and then traveled to Greece and Turkey as part of a May Session class. As a Dobson scholar and a student leader in the Newman Club, the campus' Catholic student organization, she spent two spring breaks in Costa Rica doing service work.

“Studying abroad in Ecuador helped me become independent,” said Mitchell, who considered attending the University of Tennessee but decided that an out-of-state college experience would be a better fit. “It was tough because I've never been away from my support groups. I've had many adventures, and I've grown up as a person.”

Mitchell, the youngest of seven children, says while she loves learning about religion, she enjoys math because it “balances out the other side of my brain.” She says Dr. Hal French in religious studies and Dr. David Sumner in math are wonderful mentors who are passionate about subjects and students.

“They (French and Sumner) are great listeners,” she said. “They helped me work through the difficulties of figuring what I wanted to do at certain points during college. They listened and helped me figure things out for myself.”

Mitchell's extracurricular activities are as diverse as her majors. The Rotary scholar and Phi Beta Kappa student is music director for the Newman Club's statewide retreats and is captain of the intramural girls' soccer team, which won the championship last fall and this spring under her leadership.

One of her most treasured college experiences was reading John Hershey's “Hiroshima” for a class her sophomore year. She knew that the uranium used in the bombing over Hiroshima had its origin at the Y-12 National Security Complex in her hometown of Oak Ridge. It was then she decided to study the shared East-meets-West history of Hiroshima and Oak Ridge.

“My project wouldn't have been complete without seeing it for myself,” she said. “So I went to Japan and spent 10 days there during winter break. It was incredible to see a different culture. It made my research on the Hiroshima bombings more tangible, more visible by seeing the remains of the city that was destroyed. Oak Ridge was created by the Manhattan Project.”

What are Mitchell's post-graduation plans? Why, traveling of course. She will spend 10 months on a coffee plantation in Guatemala, bringing a water-purification project to small villages. After that, she plans to attend graduate school for math and spend several years in South America before returning to the United States to establish permanent roots.

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• Michael Blew, nursing
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• Julius Hamilton, biology
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• Emily Mitchell, mathematics/religious studies
• Tyler Ray, mechanical engineering
• Steve Smith, mathematics
• Travis Storey, nursing
• Rebecca Swift, pre-med/Spanish