Campus News

A Great Start - Pavelko & Williamson

4/15/15
Worthington Campus

From the time they were in Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) classes together as preschoolers, Kaylee Williamson, daughter of Jeff and LouAnn Williamson of Worthington, and Rachel Pavelko, daughter of Mike and Mary Pavelko, also of Worthington, have lived parallel lives - educationally speaking, at least. 

That early preschool experience setset them up well for life. Now, having each earned their Ph.D.s, they remain friends who have helped each other - and been inspired by each other - throughout their lives.

After their ECFE years, both girls attended St. Mary’s School together, then moved on to Worthington Middle School and Worthington High School. At the high school, in pretty much the only divergent educational decision they made from each other (other than topic of study), Williamson took advantage of PSEO (Post Secondary Education Opportunity) at Minnesota West Community & Technical College, while Pavelko opted out.

PSEO allows high school students to take certain classes at college, while still remaining involved at the high school though additional classes and extracurricular activities. Williamson was very glad to be able to take the opportunity to accelerate her high school experience.

“I felt it was a wonderful educational experience,” elaborated Williamson. “I wanted to continue to push myself educationally, and PSEO was the only option I found feasible to give me that.

“I still had fun my senior year of high school. I was deeply involved in FFA, band and sports, which kept me busy, social and having fun.”

Williamson’s father is provost at Minnesota West. While this fact may have influenced her decision to some degree, she was excited to attend the college regardless of her father’s position.

“I would never take back my experience at Minnesota West,” said Williamson. “The college gave me an incredible experience. When you go to a big university, your ‘generals’ are often held in big seminar rooms with 150-plus students, and you hardly ever get an opportunity to meet one-on-one with your instructor. While at Minnesota West, I was able to complete the majority of my generals in a classroom of 50 students max.

“Therefore, I was able to have one-on-one time with my instructors, which in the end assisted in my ability to get a quality education.”

After graduating from Worthington High School, Pavelko also chose to attend Minnesota West. In fact, both she and Williamson received the Genevieve Mooty, J.W. Mooty and Melvin Mooty Academic Scholarship to Minnesota West, available to incoming Worthington campus freshmen with a minimum high school GPA of 3.0.
Pavelko, too, remains thankful for the small class sizes and easy access to her instructors while at the college.
“Minnesota West set me up for success,” Pavelko said. “For one, the class sizes were ideal for a quality education. They were small enough so that the professors had time to get to know us. The professors all have open-door policies. They are so willing to assist you as needed. They’re very personable and easy to approach.

“But, even with all that, Minnesota West was big enough that it still felt like a college campus.”
During their early high school years, Pavelko and Williamson had begun to grow apart, but their time at Minnesota West brought them back together as they took some classes with each other and were involved in many of the same activities.

“I was involved in student senate, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, Student Ambassadors, the homecoming committee, volleyball, basketball and softball,” Pavelko said. “I developed numerous skills including being part of a team, improving communication, and developing my leadership skills as president of Student Senate and vice president of Fellowship in Phi Theta Kappa.”

She credits her two years at Minnesota West as an influential time for her, teaching her the importance of service to the community.

“Minnesota West taught me the importance of ‘giving back’ though blood drives, book drives, food shelf fundraisers, etc,” Pavelko remembered.

Williamson also enjoyed being involved in a number of activities at the college. “I did the musical one year and I was a cheerleader,” she said. “I was in Phi Beta Kappa, and I was the president of the Student Senate, too. Since I did PSEO, I was there a year before Rachel, so I was president the year before she was.”

Because of taking advantage of PSEO, Williamson was able to graduate from Minnesota West a year sooner than Pavelko. This meant she headed off to South Dakota State University (SDSU) a full year before Pavelko was able to do so. During that year, they continued to stay in touch. Then, in Williamson’s last semester at SDSU, Pavelko began at the same university.

“Kaylee contacted me about living with her once I moved to SDSU,” Pavelko explained. “We really had a great time living together. We have many laughs from those days. Since then, we have kept in touch and have enjoyed getting to know each other again.”

Williamson, too, enjoyed their roommate days.  “We also lived with another girl named Rachael,” Williamson reminisced. “It made it very confusing when I’d be calling for one and both would answer!

“Throughout our education, Rachel and I kept in touch, always asking how school was going, clinical experiences or residency. It was nice knowing I had a friend who had experienced the same rigorous experiences that I had.”

Upon finishing their time at SDSU, both women knew that they wanted to continue to pursue their educations. For Williamson, having growing up in a family where her mother has a master’s degree and her father a doctorate, furthering her education felt like the natural thing to do.

“I always wanted to make my parents proud with my education by working hard, getting good grades and making big accomplishments. Now, having achieved the highest degree one can be bestowed, I hope that I have in fact made them proud.”

Pavelko may not have been as certain of her advanced education as her friend always was, but she credits Minnesota West with giving her a vision for her future.

“I actually did not always know what I wanted to do for a profession,” she said. “I knew I was leaning toward a career in the health field because I have always wanted to help people, and what better way than by providing quality health care?

“Then one day Minnesota West was holding a career fair for the students. I went and spoke with a couple of pharmacists from GuidePoint Pharmacy. As we continued to talk, they recommended I come down and check out the pharmacy sometime. Six months later, I was working there as a clerk and loving it. Soon after, I applied for pharmacy school and was accepted into the Pharm.D. program at SDSU.”

Pavelko graduated with her doctorate as the Distinguished Graduate of the 2014 Pharmacy Class of SDSU. She is now in her first year as a Pharmacy Resident at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Williamson, too, furthering the two women’s parallel education adventure, wound up in the health care field, attending Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., after graduating from SDSU, where she received her doctorate in occupational therapy in 2014. She now works for Prairie Rehabilitation Services, traveling in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa three days a week and spending the other two days in Flandreau, S.D., at Riverview Health Services in the rehab department.

As is natural in life, the two admit to having their ups and downs in their friendship. They both agree without hesitation, though, that they are glad to have had their time together as roommates at SDSU, as it cemented their relationship as friends to this day.

“Our friendship was most helpful when I moved to Brookings,” said Pavelko. “Kaylee really helped me learn my way around as she had already been up there for a while. “It was great to have a friend when I knew no one.”

Williamson remembers how impressed she was by her longtime friend as she watched her starting out at SDSU. “I remember her first day of pharmacy school,” Williamson recalled. “She came home with a book of notecards about five inches thick and told me she had six weeks to learn them all. I was absolutely astounded! She did it, and knowing Rachel she likely had them all memorized in five. I am so incredibly proud of her.”

Now, getting established in their careers and living near to each other - in Sioux Falls, and Brandon, S.D. - the two women remain friends and try to get together whenever they have a free minute. Free minutes, of course, can be hard to find, especially when wedding plans are thrown into the mix. That’s right, furthering their parallel lives, both ladies plan to be married in the upcoming months.

“Our friendship has been wonderful as we are both preparing for our weddings later this year,” enthused Pavelko. “We send each other text messages about wedding ideas,” laughed Williamson.

Pavelko is engaged to Kyle Hokeness, a fellow pharmacy student from SDSU, who now works as a pharmacist in the Twin Cities. They are planning an October 3 wedding.

Williamson is engaged to Josh Koob, who also hails from Worthington. Their wedding is set for August 15.
Both weddings will be in Worthington.

News story courtesy of Worthington Daily Globe, Gretchen O'Donnell.