"Rachel has discovered within herself a strong motivation for scholarship and research. (She) has, by all standards, a thorough architectural education, a two semester study in Italy and a summer working as a preservation–design assistant in France with one of the leading Medievalists in the profession. Her personality reflects... intellectual growth and a synthesis of ideas. She also has an innate ability to understand architecture as design and as theory. I feel strongly about (her) potential as a scholar, a designer and as a future university instructor."

"When you tend to your surface, you are making a statement of faith. You are saying, I matter. You are saying, The world is worth dressing for. You are engaging in the best kind of optimism, an optimism that propels you out of bed in the morning, that directs you to the day. When you put on nice clothes, you are putting on hope; you are saying, Here I am. This is fun. Look at me."