Class of 1996 Profile: Rebecca Rich

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Becca is interviewed here by Sara Toering:

Becca Rich finished up her senior year of high school by winning a national writing competition with an essay about land mines in Laos. She used the prize money to travel to Paris with fellow 1996 YTI alum Christian Petersen. Becca went on to attend Goshen College where she majored in English and religion, and spent a semester studying abroad in Ivory Coast. In August 2001 Becca married Eric Hochstetler and moved to Philadelphia where she worked in the publishing business. Becca went on to graduate from Duke Law School in 2006, and then she clerked on the North Carolina Supreme Court for Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson. After practicing commercial litigation at a boutique firm in Raleigh, NC, Becca became a lecturing fellow at Duke Law School where she teaches upper-level writing courses. Becca’s daughter Grace was born in December of 2008.

YTI had an immediate impact on Becca’s life. Becca grew up in small town and by the end of high school she felt discouraged with what she felt was a void of like-minded people in her community. YTI introduced Becca to amazing like-minded folks, and made her feel confident and hopeful about all the potential in the world. Becca loved developing friendships with YTI scholars who were interested in talking about religion and God and the Bible as teens. She shared that she “thinks of YTI folks fondly—it is truly a comfort to think about all of us out in the world doing great and important work.”

Currently Becca is exploring questions related to her career and vocation. Her Duke legal education provides Becca with opportunities to work on amazing cases and there are established career paths laid out for her to simply follow. Yet the work Becca is doing right now as a writing lecturer and professor provides her with flexibility and freedom and much-needed time for her family. Becca wonders about her potential and what responsibility, if any, comes with that “potential.” She posed the question “what do I owe to potential versus what I choose to do?”

rebeccamrich@yahoo.com