Born at the Baldwin County Hospital in 1999, and raised in Milledgeville, Rachel Tavares found her love for softball in her hometown.
“Starting out at the Baldwin County Recreation Department, then playing for my middle and high school. I was also able to play in college, which helped with my tuition, and even now I still play,” said Tavares.
Tavares’s mom was a teacher at Wilkinson County Middle School, which she got the pleasure to attend. In high school, Tavares moved to Baldwin County High School, where she earned a softball scholarship and continued her studies at the University of South Carolina-Sumter.
Growing up in a small town like Milledgeville has shaped Tavares into a person she is proud of today.
“Living in a smaller town has brought me more personal friendships, rather than just surface level ones, and better opportunities than what I would have been given living in a higher populated place,” said Tavares.
Tavares has been able to make many memories in Milledgeville, but her favorite was her family’s night out.
“I grew up with 14 siblings, I wouldn’t say I grew up poor, but we also weren’t a very wealthy, so we didn’t do this much. My parents would strap all of our bikes down to the car and we would spend the day riding around the campus racing each other, after we would go to a restaurant called Lieu’s Peking, where most of the staff knew us. We ended our night getting ice cream at Bruster’s, which is no longer open,” said Tavares.
With Milledgeville changing and evolving as Tavares grew with it, she has developed a new favorite local restaurant.
“My favorite place to eat in Milledgeville would have to be El Amigo. If you knew me, you would probably think that my answer is weird because I actually don’t really like Mexican cuisine, but I really enjoy the atmosphere,” said Tavares. “It's always been the place my friends and I would meet for food and drinks. I’ve been going there since high school and still go now with my friends, usually once a week.”
Tavares feels growing up in Milledgeville has taught her one of her biggest life lessons.
“The biggest lesson I’ve learned growing up is to always be myself. When I was younger, I felt like I had to sometimes pretend to be someone I wasn’t. I was scared of what others would think of me. I just wanted to fit in so people would like me. I soon figured friendships, where you have to pretend, aren’t ones that last. I feel like now I am truly myself.”
Tavares is proud to tell people she is from such a beautiful little town that shaped her into the person she is today.