Forever And For Always

The siblings’ close bond continued at Texas A&M, with the two sharing a friend group, working at Cheddar’s together and being confirmed at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on the same day. “She always followed my lead and was glued to my hip,” Joseph said. “But at the same time, she always did everything better than me. It wasn’t effortless, though; she was meticulous, planned ahead and made it happen.”

Never one to do things halfway, Levantino dove into the Aggie experience, joining Delta Zeta Sorority and TAMU Business Pathfinders and devoting herself to her economics major. “She loved being an Aggie,” Noack said. “Texas A&M had a huge impact in preparing her for the amazing things she did in her career.”

Those career accomplishments included landing a job with talent acquisition company Insight Global months before graduating and being promoted from a recruiter to an account manager within her first year at the company. “Noelle was a go-getter,” said Sean King, a regional manager who supervised Levantino. “She took her career into her own hands unlike anyone I’d ever seen and never waited for permission to succeed. I think it’s a testament to her character that in the short time she was with the company, she became a person who others in the office confided in, looked up to and gravitated toward.”

Ask her family and friends to describe her, and they’ll share stories of her cartwheeling in the grocery store, singing at the top of her lungs on road trips or being the life of every Delta Zeta event with her golden retriever, Charli, in tow. But they’ll also share stories of her caring for friends’ dogs when they were too busy, organizing surprise parties to celebrate people’s birthdays and driving in the middle of the night to help a friend who ran out of gas.

“She paid very close attention to people’s lives and what they needed,” said Kacie Brown ’18, who met Levantino at Texas A&M. “No matter how crummy your day was, being around her made you feel better and lifted your spirits. I was never good at making friends, but Noelle related to anyone. She made me feel seen and cared for, and it’s impacted how I view others.”

“She always had a smile on her face,” added Jessica Gonzalez ’20. After meeting Levantino through Delta Zeta, the two became instant friends and later worked closely together at Insight Global. “To know Noelle was to love Noelle.”

A few weeks later, Levantino received a proper Aggie sendoff when her funeral was held in College Station on the same day as the first home football game of the season. The roar of fighter jets from the flyover and the boom of the Spirit of ’02 cannon marking the start of the game shook St. Mary’s Catholic Church with the Aggie Spirit as people packed the building to pay their respects for the bright and ambitious friend who had touched their lives. “It thrilled me to know that so many people loved her,” Joseph said. “But it also breaks my heart to think that they’ll never see her again.”

But amidst the heartbreak, Noack and her family found hope and strength in their faith. “People always say, ‘Why did this happen? Why Noelle?’ But I’ve never asked that. She was never mine, and God knows what He’s doing,” Noack said. “Her death has to mean something.”

Motivated by this desire and inspired by her life, Levantino’s friends, family and colleagues have found many ways to honor her memory, from holding a yearly blood drive at Insight Global to following her example in loving others. But perhaps the biggest is an annual field day organized by Insight Global’s Houston office, where employees gather for food, games and a fundraiser in Levantino’s honor. “Noelle had always encouraged our leaders to hold a company field day,” Gonzalez recalled. “What better way to remember her than by putting her idea into action and bringing the office together to hold a philanthropic effort in her name?”

In 2022, the event raised more than $20,000 to create a one-time scholarship through Texas A&M’s Department of Economics. Eager to make an even bigger impact, Noack used the funds raised by Levantino's friends and coworkers in 2023 to create an endowed scholarship through the Texas A&M Foundation. Named in Levantino's memory and invested to provide perpetual support, the scholarship will benefit generations of economics students who are members of the Aggie Catholics student organization and who demonstrate leadership in other extracurricular activities. Noack hopes to continue growing the scholarship in the future.