And why shouldn't she be excited, having just capped off a highly successful junior year at FSC? She achieved a 3.5 GPA, won four scholarships from the Farmingdale College Foundation, was co-chair of the Rambassadors' social media committee, won an Architecture and Construction Technology (ACT) Club award for a field-trip presentation, and then topped it all off with a three-week study-abroad visit to Florence, Italy. It doesn't get much better than that – but Lauren's going to give it her best shot.
"Winning scholarships and awards makes me realize how important it is to stay focused," Lauren says. "They make me want to work that much harder in my field. I don't think anything can stop me right now."
Lauren enrolled at Farmingdale in 2012, in the Department of Architecture and Construction Management. A year later she switched to her current major, which she says better matched her interests and had more classes to help her attain her goal: becoming a construction engineer. A math lover with a passion for design and art, she felt that Construction Management Engineering Technology gave her a better shot at rolling all her skills into one career.
You'd probably guess that the construction industry is a male-dominated field, and you'd be right. But that doesn't intimidate Lauren; it drives her.
"Being a woman only pushes me harder with my schoolwork. I want to be the best I can working in the field, and I want to stand out in the construction community.
"Since I am my toughest critic, I'd say that schoolwork motivates me the most. Having the support of my peers and professors really drives me to be as successful as I can be."
Lauren also drives herself to be as busy as she can be. In addition to being a Rambassador and holding memberships in the ACT Club and Society of Women Engineers, she works off campus too, at the Carlyle on the Green restaurant at Bethpage State Park. How does she manage all this and a highly competitive academic environment at the same time?
"Keeping busy all the time forces me to stay on track with my schoolwork and my job," Lauren explains. "Over the past three years I've learned time management and leadership skills that will only help me in my career."
Keeping busy last semester included a research project on top of her normal classwork – and somewhat outside her area of expertise. Working with six other students, she studied a Wind Turbine Simulator
and its use in an educational setting. The group submitted its findings to the International Journal of Wind and Renewable Energy. But she did miss working in the field, especially as part of the service-learning projects designed Orla Smyth LoPiccolo, associate professor in the architecture and construction management department.
"I prefer being in the field, to see how things work," Lauren says. "While being in the classroom teaches me the logistics of the work I'll be doing, getting out of the class and being more hands on allows for a new learning opportunity."
And that's exactly what Lauren is looking for in her senior year.
