Unboxing the next step

Rachel Hoermann, Cler '23, A&S '26, has dreamed of becoming a writer since childhood. But like many who grew up in Ohio's rust belt, the idea of going to college felt out of reach. For years, she cycled through work that never quite satisfied her creative drive. That changed when she came across a box that once belonged to her father—a discovery that would alter the course of her life.

Hoermann's father passed away when she was very young. He had been a bright, ambitious man with dreams of becoming an electrical engineer. Inside the box were books and mementos he had saved, tokens of his own hopes of one day attending college. "He wanted to be an electrical engineer, and I have always wanted to be a writer," Hoermann recalls. "And I was like, I want to do this for him and for me. I want to break this cycle of not going to college for my daughters."

Finding the potential to shine through scholarships

Hoermann enrolled in the University of Cincinnati Clermont College and fully embraced her love of writing. "For those of us in the arts we have this moment as children when we interact with the arts, and we realize it makes us happier than anything else. And when I kept trying to fight that, like do business or something that's guaranteed to set you up in life, I kept going back to my English classes; and I felt like a disco ball. Like I shined so bright."

Beginning college as a nontraditional, first-generation student was far from easy for Hoermann, yet her passion for literature and the guiding light of mentors helped shape her academic journey. "It can be hard to feel like you belong in a place where you're not traditionally represented," she says. "But with the help and encouragement of educators like Phoebe P. Reeves, MA '04, Stephanie Alcantar, PhD '18, and Anuradha R. Chatterjee, PhD '07—who led by example and showed me what true leadership looks like—I began to recognize the leader I already was at home and beyond. It gave me the confidence I'd been seeking my whole life."

Her hard work and bright talent did not go unnoticed. One afternoon, while taking her daughter to soccer practice, Hoermann heard the news that she had received the Barbara R. Cronin Memorial Scholarship, a scholarship for UC Clermont students. "I cried," she notes, "And it was because I read the memorial to Barbara R. Cronin and what she stood for and her work. It was very akin to what I stand for and what I want to do with my life." Hoermann would go on to later receive the Richard William Vilter Jr and Barbara Watt Vilter Endowment Scholarship at the College of Arts and Sciences, further supporting her pursuit of higher education.

With the support of both her Clermont professors and scholarships, Hoermann graduated from UC Clermont College and transitioned to UC's Uptown Campus. She is now expected to graduate in spring 2026 with a dual major in creative writing and literary and cultural studies, with certificates in copyediting and publishing and professional writing and rhetoric.

Breaking the cycle through impact

For Hoermann, the scholarships were proof that someone believed in her potential. "When you write a check or give money to an organization, you don't know if it's really changing somebody's life, and my scholarships did. The scholarships are changing my family's life, that's a ripple that's going to last generations. I don't have to hide my disco ball anymore. I get to be my glittery self and shine and just be who I am."

The scholarships did more than fund Hoermann's education, it changed her family's story. It broke a cycle in which college felt impossible and inspired her daughters to dream bigger, work harder and pursue their own paths with confidence.

Hoermann advises to other students, "Don't be afraid to shine. When I was younger, one of the reasons I didn't go to college was because I didn't have support. If I could talk to myself back then, I would say, you can do this. You are enough."

Passion personified

At UC's Uptown Campus, Hoermann feels deeply supported by faculty who have opened doors for her in the literary community and inspired her to continue pursuing higher education. She credits educators like Laura Wilson, MA '05, and Julia Carlson, PhD ‘06—whom she describes as "passion personified"—for embodying the kind of leadership and mentorship she hopes to one day offer her own students.

The guidance of UC faculty, combined with the philanthropic support that made her education possible, reminds Hoermann of the power of investing in others—a ripple effect she hopes to carry forward in her own career.

She urges others to embrace that same support, "Make that first step. Let the people that have gone on this journey, let them help you, and don't be embarrassed that you need help. You must accept that there are people out there who want to help you, and that's a gift. You're not a burden."

Support student success and our future leaders by investing in scholarships. Invest in UC Clermont students by giving to the Barbara R. Cronin Memorial Scholarship Fund.