At college, it is easy to place your identity in your major and your planned career path. Spending four years engrossed in one or a few areas of study can influence your thinking and career path for decades to come. Kate (Moreau) Rhodes ’18, wanted to be a teacher since she was ten years old. She came to Covenant as an elementary education major, intending to teach full-time once she graduated. However, God had other plans for her—Kate holds a law degree and now works as an insurance lawyer in Atlanta. Though this was not her original path, God had been using her education studies as a way to prepare her for law school. 

Doors Closed and Opened

Kate recalls her love for law emerging as she studied the intricacies of our education system, especially while studying the laws and policies of our system. She began considering law school seriously as a junior, but wanted to pursue teaching first, unwilling to give up on her longtime dream before seeing it through. However, Kate says that her first year of teaching after graduation was more difficult than she anticipated. “That year felt like the Lord was shutting a door for me, and that was really hard.” She began to apply to law schools, and reconnected with some of her old education professors at Covenant during this process. Kate recalls feeling nothing but support from her professors, even though she was now pursuing something different. “I thought that if I don’t go now, I’ll never go,” Kate says. 

Finding Her Place

Kate started at Georgia State in the fall of 2019 and got a job as a plaintiff’s attorney after she graduated, working with personal injury cases. While it was a good introduction to working with law, this job did not feel like her ultimate calling, and she shifted to working with business law at an insurance company. This taught Kate a lot about her sense of identity as she figured out where she belonged in the law world. As Kate states, “I used to work for someone whose whole identity was in his career and in the firm that he had built, and he was never satisfied… I learned that everything I did professionally mattered, but how I treated people and where I looked to for fulfillment was a lot more important than the cases that I’ve won or lost.”

Educational Impact

Kate felt very supported at Covenant as she forged her path. The education practicums she participated in built a strong community within her major, and she was part of the pre-law society, spending time with people who were considering law from a faith-based perspective. Kate shares, “The academic faith foundation where I learned to apply my faith and values into what I was learning was no small thing going into a public law school. I felt like I was well equipped based on what I had learned and how I learned to think at Covenant.” She also found support through Covenant’s community, working as an RA in Founders and establishing relationships with the other RAs and RDs in her building. When she went to law school, she was immensely grateful for the way Covenant had taught her to study and think. Critical reading and synthesizing was a big portion of her work, which is at the core of Covenant’s educational style. “The liberal arts education at Covenant is invaluable,” Kate says. She also appreciated how her professors supported her academically while challenging her to work through things on her own. 

Current Work 

Kate is still a business lawyer, working primarily with private organizations, HOAs, and nonprofits. She is also part of the Wilberforce committee, and loves meeting future and current Covenant students, staying involved with the workings of the college. Though these current jobs were not what she originally planned, in trusting God with her calling and identity, she has found her place.

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