While the Tunnel of Oppression serves as a powerful event for many students, it was a particularly memorable one for Pace sophomore Rachel Aviles, who relived an experience that haunts her to this day.

This year’s Tunnel incorporated Aviles’ story, in which administrators at her private high school kicked her out because of her sexuality.

Up until her senior year, Aviles attended a Christian day school in Connecticut, though she does not identify with the religion, or any. Following a class trip to Washington, DC, in which Aviles said she and other females held hands and called each other “wifey”, she received an email from the head of the high school requesting a meeting with Aviles and her mother.

“When I got the email I was like, this could be it, this could be the moment I’m dreading,” said Aviles, who said that her actions on the trip not uncommon amongst students at The Master’s School, as its small size fostered close relationships.

The following day she and her mother were confronted by three administrative officials and one teacher who served as the chaperone on the class trip. The four representatives questioned Aviles’ sexuality and accused her of being disrespectful towards the school’s values. The officials asked the junior where her heart was and if she knew what she was doing with her life.

“My mom looked at me and was like, just tell them, you know what they want to know,” said Aviles, who was forced to look the officials in the face and tell them something that she had only recently told her friends and family.

“I like girls,” she said.

After much prayer and deliberation, administrators challenged Aviles and her mother with an ultimatum.

“Withdraw, or we will expel you,” they said.

“The dean was like, ‘I have to protect my community,’ and I was like, ‘since when am I no longer a part of that?’” said Aviles, who claimed to have been an involved and well-representing Master’s student. “I wasn’t trying to do anything intentionally, I was just being myself.”

Aviles said the administration considered her sexuality to be a threat to that of other students’ and that some officials were concerned that she would turn her peers gay.

Two weeks before classes were scheduled to resume Aviles submitted the paperwork necessary to attend another private school in the area, where she was sponsored by anonymous donors.

“Everyone knew why I was there, they read it in the papers and saw it on the news but I was a senior so I didn’t care about being new,” said Aviles, who was accepted along with her sexuality into the Watkinson School in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Though Aviles was also coping with her parents’ divorce among other family problems, she was ultimately able to conquer the turbulent time, and even the Master’s School itself.

“The Master’s School and Watkinson had a crazy rivalry. When I played for Master’s we defeated [Watkinson] during my sophomore and junior seasons but they beat us at every championship game,” said Aviles, who played lacrosse for both schools.

The teams were tied on Master’s turf when a minute before half time Aviles sprained three of the four ligaments in her ankle. With her foot tightly wrapped and her determination at an all-time high, Aviles not only finished the game but was able to pull a win for Watkinson.

“With a minute left I tapped [my opponent’s] stick. I sprinted down the field and stopped her from scoring the goal. Then I collapsed and I cried, but I finally felt like I won,” Aviles said. “I shook my friends’ hands and there was no animosity or hostility at all. People were just like, Rachel you deserve this.”

With support from her friends, particularly former orientation leaders, and her peers, Aviles was able to gain a new perspective on her past.

“At first Joselyn (Aviles’ close friend and self-proclaimed “twin”) recorded it and I couldn’t watch it; it made me so emotional. I lived it I don’t need to see it.

“[The skit] was really weird to watch because in the moment I was being told that I was not okay, but from a third party perspective those people were not okay; they were the ones with the problem. Seeing it helped me let go,” Aviles said.

Though she hasn’t had any negative experiences at Pace, Aviles offered words of advice to those who may struggling with their own self-acceptance, or who are in situations that may be similar to her own.

“You’re not broken, you’re not the one who needs to be fixed,” said Aviles. “Remember that you are okay and it’s okay to be yourself despite situations like this.”

As the future VP of Unity and Social Justice, Aviles hopes to use her story as an inspiration to mend the Pace community.