Muriel Bailey, BA ’21, didn’t have a typical high school job. Instead, she worked as an undercover youth agent for the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, supervised by federal and state agents. Being homeschooled meant that she could work during normal school and business hours, testing the compliance of vendors with their tobacco licenses by trying to purchase tobacco products as a minor — without using a fake ID or misrepresenting her age. She would then complete paperwork detailing the results of the attempts. She worked in this job for about seven months, at which point she turned 18, so she was no longer a minor and could no longer be employed in that position.

Bailey comes from a University of Dallas legacy family: her parents, Rebecca (Wolfe) Bailey, BA ’98, and Robert Bailey, BA ’97, met at and both graduated from UD, as did several of her aunts and uncles; additionally, Professor of Politics Christopher Wolfe is her grandfather.

“I decided on UD for the community, strong religious identity and education,” said Bailey. “The sunny weather and nearby family are just a bonus!”

Bailey enjoys reading and writing — in fact, she’s participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), in which she managed to write 20,000 words of a novel in 30 days (Nov. 1-30 annually); she hopes to workshop the novel as time allows. Other high school interests and activities comprised a spectrum of pursuits, including volunteering as a teacher’s aide for a second-grade Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) class, taking both Krav Maga (a type of military self-defense and fighting system) and piano lessons, participating in two theater productions her senior year and helping her sister as a crew member to produce a commercial for a video contest.

Listening to music and watching movies are favorite pastimes of Bailey’s, Italian and dance both ongoing interests. While she thinks she might major in English like her mother, she doesn’t have specific plans for after graduation quite yet; she expects that her experiences over the next four years will help give her clearer ideas and shape her path.  

“I'm looking forward most to the people, experiences and opportunities: getting to know students, professors, staff and possibly alumni; participating in Dallas Year and the celebration of Groundhog Day together; and growing in my faith, my mind and my person as a whole,” said Bailey.