Butler Senior Lauren Graham Improves Lives Around Indianapolis; Wins Award

By Lauren Allan, CCC staff writer

December 2010

When you take a look at Butler University senior Lauren Graham, you can see a comforting smile that can instantly brighten a day, big brown eyes filled with excitement, ideas and potential, and an all-around presence that can make anyone feel welcome. What is not visible to the naked eye, however, is the success: the heartfelt work she has put into her job at the Martin Luther King Community Center (MLKCC), the near-completion of a major in actuarial science and minor in business administration, and her involvement in so many organizations that she has been forced to excuse herself from some in order to be more fully involved in those she feels most strongly about.

As an Advocate for Community Engagement (ACE) at the MLKCC, a cheerleader, a volunteer and a student on top of it all, Graham has one feature that stands out the most: her care for others.

At the beginning of her junior year, Graham became eligible for a Federal Work-Study Program, which required her to look for jobs. She began her search on a career services website, and found a job opening at Butler University’s Center for Citizenship and Community (CCC). After an interview with Dr. Donald Braid, director of the CCC, she was hired.

"Technically…I'm a liaison between Butler and the MLKCC," Graham explained. "Along with that comes scheduling, managing, and communicating with all of the Butler students that come in and do their service learning at the site."

According to their website, http://mlk-msc.org/, the MLKCC is “'the catalyst for creating positive social change in Indianapolis neighborhoods.’” The center, which "primarily serves the working poor and their families," holds many fundraisers, group meetings, and offers an after-school program for children in Indianapolis schools. The after-school program is where many Butler students provide service learning, and it is also what Graham mainly oversees. Her job as an ACE includes along with being a liaison, coordinating and communicating with all of the Butler service-learning students coming in to do service learning at the site, as well as with their professors. Many students do service-learning for credit in their classes, and Graham keeps track of what and how they are doing.

"I'm also supposed to be a gateway for potential ideas for improvement, so I'm constantly coming up with ideas, scratching and passing on ideas."

When she is not planning and organizing, Graham also works hands-on with the kids, tutoring and mentoring them. "When [Dr. Braid] [originally] interviewed me, he asked me what I've done in the past and more so what my interests are, and I did a lot of talking about College Mentors for Kids. I guess he put two and two together and saw that I had a passion for kids."

Although her schedule has recently changed to no longer allow time for involvement in College Mentors for Kids, Graham does wish she could return to that program. "[It's] unfortunate, but I also do volunteering at another IPS school in the special education classroom. And, hopefully starting this week, [I'm] teaching Spanish to a sixth grade classroom."

Along with these activities, Graham also participates in Butler's Independent Council, Black Student Union and is a member of the Business fraternity - Alpha Kappa Psi.

Most of these organizations only take place during the academic school year, but last summer Graham decided she wanted to do more. Determined to make a difference, she worked at the MLKCC's summer camp, which is held at the center. The camp involved multiple training sessions held before the camp started, but this didn't faze Graham. By the end of the summer, she had earned herself an Excellence in Summer Service Education Award (ESSEA). The award is given outby the Indianapolis Summer Youth Program Fund, and is awarded to full-time staff members.

The $1,000 dollar award is given to 23 people throughout Indianapolis and requires the recipient to be between the ages of 16 and 22 years old. In the application for the award, Graham answered several questions pertaining to her experiences at the camp. At the awards banquet, a snippet of one of her essay answers was read; in it she explained why she believes summer programs are important for kids. She described one family she worked with as "three intelligent children, one loving mother, and one heartfelt stepfather." "The mother in the family didn't have funds for the children," explained Graham. "So seeing [the kids] excited to come to the camp every single day and looking at them, you can just tell that you're doing a good thing. They're so excited, and you realize how important it is [for you] to be there." This family was not the only one who had an effect on Graham. Another young girl at the MLKCC soon began to have a large influence on her life.

"She's just been through a ridiculous number of things in her life for her to only be a nine year-old… More than I've experienced and I've been living for 20 years." Graham noted that this girl reminds her a lot of herself when she was younger. "She's been an inspiration for me," she says, smiling. Out of her hope and love for children, Graham decided to give this girl a chance which she may not have had anywhere else. "[She's] absolutely obsessed with cheerleading, and wants to be a cheerleader/model when she's older,” Graham said. “Butler has a cheer clinic every year for the team that costs $30. Last year I told her mom about it and she didn't want to pay for it, so this year I decided to just pay for her myself."

A Butler cheerleader since freshman year, Graham turned to her coach and explained the situation. The coach was willing to let the girl participate in the clinic for free, due to the large over-enrollment of the clinic this season. Graham said, "I just think it's definitely important for her to experience as much as she can now…I'm trying to make as big of a positive impact on her now so that hopefully she has somebody to look up to."

Graham is most assuredly a trusted role model, and hopes to one day be able to be an influential figure in many children's lives. Through her volunteer work and her love for children she realized there were different aspects of herself, which she wanted to offer to the world. She then came to the conclusion that a career in the actuarial science field was not for her.

"In the future I'd like to go into education administration. I'm applying for Teach For America, and hoping that will do me well." Teach For America, (TFA), is a nationwide program that allows college graduates to teach in a high-risk area of education for any grade and any subject area of your choice. The program assists these participants in getting their teaching certifications, pays off college loans, and also provides funding for graduate school.

"I'm thinking about being some kind of principal at a school so I can still use the business background that I'll have from Butler, but I can also have some type of interaction with kids."

No matter which career path Graham follows, there is no doubt she will do exceptional things. From the admirable volunteer work to her unending amount of generosity, and her aspirational career to her much deserved award, Graham is not only a fantastic role model for others, but additionally may also serve as an inspiration for herself. It takes a special person to make a difference in the world, but eventually she will realize how much of a difference she has already made in herself.