When Khayla Patel’s parents pushed her to try track and field at Houston’s Memorial High School, she had no idea it would lead her to Rice.
“I tried one practice and I fell in love with it,” she said. “And that's where my running career set off.”
Under Rice women’s track and field coach Jim Bevan, the cross-country runner has achieved All-Conference USA status, won the Rice Invitational and helped her team win a conference championship.
“I would say the main thing was the coach, he was very welcoming and just made my dreams come true at Rice,” she said.
“And the girls I run with, they come from everywhere around the world,” she continued. “I made a lot of friends from different backgrounds that were not my own. So it really helped me become a better person.”
Off the track, Patel found her passion in the classroom.
“During Rice a lot of people around me wanted to be pre-med. But for me, I always felt like it was not right for me,” she said. “And then I found another profession, physician assistant, my junior and senior year. I looked at the work-life balance, and I just fell in love with that career path. So now I'm on my way to become a physician assistant.”