Rachael Kunzler Pursues Individualized Double Major

Rachael Kunzler

MIU student Rachael Kunzler is an educator, a baker, a wellness coach, and more–and she is putting many of her talents to use through her Individualized Major in Human Development and her BA in Educational Foundations.

Before coming to MIU, Rachael had a holistic health certification and was starting up her own business working as a women’s health coach. She had also spent time WWOOFing, working on organic farms around the nation with her three children, who she home-schooled. After some major life changes, she decided to uproot her family from Missouri and take a chance on a new home base: Fairfield, Iowa.

When Rachael first came to MIU, she planned to major in Maharishi AyurVeda. Once she launched into her studies, however, she realized that she was interested in a variety of classes. She found that Media and Communications courses gave her the ability to confidently convey messages in her own business. Writing classes helped her with self-referral. Education classes let her dive deeper into different aspects of teaching. After taking classes in many departments, Rachael realized that they could all be pieced together through an individualized major, accompanied with a second major in Educational Foundations.

Rachael’s individualized major in Human Development aims to integrate many of the areas that she studied before she attended MIU–such as education, psychology, religion, and social sciences–and tie them into the new areas she has explored during her time at MIU. In particular, she is excited about bringing consciousness into the picture.

“Maharishi’s Science of Being and Art of Living is an element of consciousness that I wouldn’t get at another university,” she said, “MIU is everything I needed it to be that I didn’t even ask for.”

In addition to academics, Rachael is pursuing her passion for baking by providing organic donuts and other baked goods for the Vishwa Shanti Cafe in MIU’s Argiro Student Center. They’ve proven to be popular, and she has already stepped up production to fill increased demand.

Rachael’s children playing

Rachael’s three children are now students at Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment, where they have quickly become part of a supportive community. They are enjoying their time at the school, and Rachael is excited to see them enrolled in a school that supports the same, conscious lifestyle that she previously enjoyed while homeschooling.

Rachael will be graduating this June, and we are excited to see what she does with her variety of talents!

To learn more about Rachael’s various pursuits or to contact her about work, please visit her website.