By Sarah Hughes
News Editor
It’s graduation season again. Many enjoy the cycle of beginnings and endings that school brings.
While we are excited to celebrate members of the Cougar Chronicle staff moving on, we will miss them. Here we take a moment to honor their accomplishments and consider where they are going.
Lauren Hammond
Graduating with a BA in Literature and Writing, Lauren Hammond has been writing and editing as the Opinion and Copy editor for The Cougar Chronicle for the last year. She always has an opinion and teaches others the importance of having one too. She is ever instigating other students to research controversial topics and to write of their views in her section. In addition to editing, in the last year Lauren has worked as a research assistant, writing tutor at the campus Writing Center and a server.
Lauren has made the Dean’s List every semester since her start at CSUSM. She also participated in the annual American Folklore Society Conference in the past October. At the conference, she presented some of her work with the creation of a Harry Potter course called Harry Potter Folklore and Culture (ID 370) which recently was offered for the first time by Professor Linda Pershing. Under Lauren’s leadership an article entitled “Harry Potter Class in the Works for the Spring Term” by Chelsey Schweitzer was printed on our front page in Sept. 2013. In my experience, it was the most talked about article for that issue.
She is also friends with Amanda Lenox. The two were Pershing’s “Head Girls” and assisted in research and creation of materials for the J.K. Rowling’s based course. Both Lauren and Amanda professed to believing the series influenced their lives, but Lauren said if she had to pick just one book as a favorite, it would be Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling.
A transfer student from Mount San Jacinto, Lauren started at CSUSM in the Fall of 2012. Prior to that she had studied a year at Pacific University, a private university in Oregon. She currently holds an Associate of Arts in LIberal Arts and an AA in Humanities.
After graduation, Lauren will begin studying at SDSU in the fall for a Masters of Arts in English. She hopes to work as a teaching assistant at the SDSU campus.
Lauren has many people to thank who played a role in her earning a college degree.
“I would like to thank all of my family, friends, and coworkers at CSUSM for all of their support,” said Lauren. “I would not be where I am today without them.”
Lauren couldn’t name just one teacher who she appreciated.
“It is hard to say which teacher is my favorite” says Lauren, “All of the professors I have worked with at the CSUSM campus have had an amazingly positive impact on my undergraduate success. I am especially grateful for the guidance I received from Professor Breuer, Professor Pershing, Professor Doller, Professor Stoddard-Holmes, Professor Yuan, and Professor Wallace.”
The trend seemed to continue when it came to picking a class to recommend.
“Surprisingly, I have enjoyed all of the literature and writing courses I have taken during my stay at CSUSM, and it is difficult to recommend only one.”
Here’s to many more wonderful educational experiences and to luck in planning her future as she goes forward from graduation.