Profile
- Route: Sierra
- Ride Year: 2019
- Hometown: Dallas, TX
- School Year: Senior
- Major: Plan II and Marketing
- Email: izzytunnell@utexas.edu
About:
I am currently a junior studying Plan II and Business, and am earning a certificate in Core Texts and Ideas. This combination of degrees has allowed me to interact with a great variety of people and ideas, and has provided me with resources, professors, organizations, and motivations to pursue my interests inside and outside of my classes at this university.
The professors that I have worked with have allowed me to find new opportunities to incorporate my interests in environmental science, visual art, government, languages, and medicine into my life. From my freshman-year women’s biography course, to math and physics, I have developed critical thinking skills that I hope will aid me in my future as I work with people.
That being said, I hope to use the knowledge that I’ve gained through my courses to not only work with people, but for people. I know that I’ll be happiest in an occupation where I’m making a positive impact on the world. Whether it’s through conservation efforts, nonprofit work, or international relations, I want to analyze the problems in the world, and help come up with solutions that will last lifetimes.
Why I Ride
I want to ride for those who can’t, for those who weren’t able to, for those who won’t be able to. I want to ride because I can- because if I was the one battling cancer, I know it would mean the world to know that there was someone out there riding for me.
I want to ride because no one is immune to cancer. Cancer is not fair. Cancer does not care about “good” or “bad” people. It doesn’t distinguish between young and old. It doesn’t pay attention to your plans, dreams and ambitions. It can be daunting to think about how abruptly your life can change, but it’s even more unnerving to think that anyone can have their life turned upside down by this one broad disease. How many lives have been affected by cancer? When you think about the fact that nearly 40% of people- men, women, children, elderly, and everything in between- will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives, how does that make you feel? It used to make me feel hopeless. But now I know that that’s not what the statistics are trying to tell us. What they are trying to tell us is that we are all in this together. The fight against cancer, the fight for the cure, is not going to be won alone- it’s going to be won as together, as a family, as a community.
For me, I believe that that’s what makes Texas 4000 so important. This organization relies on working together, forming leaders who are willing and prepared to raise their voice in support of the fight for the cure. Texas 4000 is raising money for a good cause, but it is the people who the riders meet who have some of the greatest effects.
I want to ride because there is so much pain and sorrow in the world, and I believe that a cure is out there waiting to be discovered. I want to support the people who are battling cancer, researching cancer, and surviving cancer. It can be easy to forget about cancer when it is not directly affecting you. That’s one of the incredible things about Texas 4000- it allows its riders to impress the organization’s message onto people who otherwise wouldn’t think about it. It stands as a reminder that even when you or a loved one beats cancer, the struggle still continues for millions of others. By 2019, I will have graduated with four years of knowledge developed at UT, but Texas 4000 provides an experience that no amount of time at a university and no career can provide. Texas 4000 allows us to make a difference, and to bring attention to a cause that affects every single one of us.
I don’t want to ignore it, or not talk about it. It can be hard, but when we talk about those who we’ve lost, or our struggles with our own mortality, we come together to become stronger. For me, riding to Alaska would be a way for me to honor not only those who I’ve loved and lost, but the survivors and loved ones of the communities and individuals who we encounter on our journey. Texas 4000 has a message worth sharing, and I want to do my part in spreading it further.