About Me

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About: Hi, my name is Jacquelyn Clark! Or you can just call me Jac. I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas until my family moved to Natchitoches, Louisiana where I attended St. Mary's High School. It wouldn't be long before I crossed back over the state line to attend the University of Texas where I am a honors liberal arts student and strive to live our school motto: What Starts Here Changes the World.

Around campus, you can catch me in a burnt orange scarf representing Texas Spirits and helping out around the college as a member of the Liberal Arts Council. I also intern at Scott, Douglass & McConnico law firm and volunteer teach/translate for a U.S. citizenship class each week at Manos de Cristo, and relatedly, I research security initiatives in Latin America as a Next Generation Scholar within the Fellows Program at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law.

Whenever I get the chance, I love to read, play with my dog Pinny, and travel to new places. I have been to six continents and am currently still scheming/saving to reach Antarctica! I enjoy all kinds of adventure, esp. the kind that worries my Dad - think skydiving over the Great Barrier Reef and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. More so than any adrenaline rush, the incredible people I have met across cultures and borders have yet to fade from my memories. It is through this immersion and these interactions that I have gotten out of my comfort zone the most and experienced tremendous personal growth. And so now, after tossing my graduation cap in May of 2018, I'll be hopping on a bike alongside my other Texas 4000 teammates to cycle 70 days and over 4,000 miles from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska...

Why I Ride

Our mission is to raise cancer awareness and research funds by spreading hope, knowledge, and charity across the country on the world's longest annual charity bike ride. Along the way, we seek to cultivate within ourselves and each other future leaders who will continue to make a positive impact on the future in our respective fields.

I first came to know cancer through the loss of my grandfather. Since this happened before I was born, I've never known what to call him - both out loud and in my heart - besides just "my mom's dad". I never knew him as 'grandpa', 'pawpaw', or any other affectionately cliché name that would've been... But that's what cancer does. It seeks to rob families of precious memories and of members themselves. It cares not about age, race, gender, or nationality but is a silent and shared adversary. I ride, because I imagine a future with a cure. I want my team to make use of the pain and fear that looms and burn it as fuel for our journey ahead...

At the beginning of each meeting, our team shares "ride dedications" which never fail to make palpable the unpredictability and prevalence of cancer - whether it's someone's parent currently battling, an aunt who relapsed after years of being clear, or a cousin who just passed away, the list goes on and on each time. This act of sharing shows the power and healing of storytelling and how it allows us to tackle something so much bigger than ourselves.

So I ask for your support - whether that is by monetary means, reaching out with your words, sharing your story, or simply sending up prayers. I ask too that you let me know if there is a loved one(s) in mind you wish for me to add to my personal dedications. This is a list I read over during meetings, before rides, and in the university chapel. It is with humility and in honor that I ride for:

- Joseph Daniel Chamberlin, Sr. & Alva Dixon Harp, grandparents
- Don Davis (the book you recommended through your nephew Jacob Lee changed the ways I think)
- Grant Ingram, in ped/car accident. You tug on my heart during the smallest of moments and big ones too. I carry you with me and thank you for being the best friend, homecoming escort, and football buddy a (temporarily ha) small-town girl could’ve asked for. I treasure kicking your butt in basketball on Prom Night which meant you had to jump in Martin’s pool and also the kiss on the cheek I gave you as we parted the last time I saw you.
- JoAnn McMullen (like the roses you planted next to our house still flourish so does your memory)
- Dr. Cohen who performs routine clinical breast exams, including my own
- Abz Zeitler, chief of Spirits and T4K alum
- Iram Leon (and his daughter) - brain cancer fighter and marathon runner (he really kicked my butt at the Longhorn Run)
- Mr. Joey's friend Michael F. - stay clear, pal!
- Mr. Wagner and his father, lung cancer survivor
- Cliff, currently battling
- Mrs. Angela Eversull, dancer extraordinaire and breast cancer survivor!
- Mrs. Florkowski who has planted so many seeds of confidence in her Bearcat students and cultivated markedly my love for reading/writing
- Vanessa Russell: cancer-free, rocking her shorter hair, and super kind even when I put the wrong firm documents in her inbox :')
- Joel Johnston Correia, in memory
- Rita Young Taylor, Chuck Taylor, Liz Taylor, and Pete Lafitte
- Pete Kelly
- Sally Harp, who had her body donated to research
- Mary Ellzey Kelley, in precious memory
- Garland Powell, brother of the kind & intelligent Mrs. Laura Strahan and currently battling
- Jose Manuel Paredes, in memory of his battle with Hodgkins Lymphoma and for his grandson Bernie who continues to do so much for the cancer community and really any community he is part of. I experienced his sweet and energetic leadership style while studying for the LSAT with him all summer.
- Butch and Kay Huckabay, good people/the best kind of friends who beat testicular & breast cancer
- Jeanie, Michael Lanham's godmother. They don't make hardworking gentleman like Michael anymore! He's my Jesuit guy since Winter Formal '16. Thanks for always knowing what to say in sincere and comedic ways. We might be kindred spirits...
- wife of David Hanna and also in memory of his daughter
-Dr. Castille currently battling prostate cancer, thanks for getting Dad on board about my second major of geography
- Tom Cunningham, in memory of your battle with prostate cancer. It was 55 mile of 85 when I met your wife at a gas station. Though her tears and talk of you gave me chills & sadness, they also gave me determination to finish the most challenging ride I had faced yet.
- Susu Burke, my second mother. Thank you for letting me tag along at football games, Mardi Gras, and Disneyworld as well as letting me sleep over as much as I wanted. Jean and Greg have a special bond, and you are the glue. I am so thankful for you all and your welcoming kindness! Also, for Susu's mother who battled breast cancer and for Mrs. Judy.
- Louise Booty, battling stage 3 pancreatic cancer. Love you, love your spunk SO much!

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away... Write this down, for these words are faithful and true.” - Revelation 21:4-5