First-Year Student Finds Space for Herself at SCU
Thanking students and profs, Lauren Davis ‘22 happy to call SCU home
By Julia MacIntyre ‘21
Santa Clara University first-year student Lauren Davis ‘22 (Child Studies) started college a bit over a month ago, but if you ask her, she’s already well adjusted. A San Jose native, she has skipped out on the homesickness plaguing many other college students, but nonetheless is adjusting to living on her own. Although Davis refers to herself as “really shy” and struggles to talk with new people, she said the strong sense of community she has found at SCU has helped her adjust. “Everyone is genuinely so welcoming and friendly. It’s made the transition a lot easier.”
Davis already has joined Santa Clara’s Equestrian Team, an off-campus sorority, The Santa Clara Community Action Program (SCCAP), and Igwebuike — Santa Clara’s Pan-African student organization. At the mention of the club, which members call Igwe, Lauren’s face immediately lit up. She explained, “Going through [high] school there weren’t many black kids, so it’s really nice to be around other people like me.”
When asked why she chose Santa Clara, Lauren cited a similar desire to join a community: “I really wanted to join a small school with a community that cared.” Two weeks into one of her first college classes, she experienced this caring through a professor who allowed her to make up an online quiz that she had forgotten. “I was really worried and apologized a lot, but my professor immediately let me make it up.”
Although Davis described herself as panicked during orientation, the advisors were quick to give her advice and aid her as she chose her first college classes. “It was a rush but I really like the freedom choosing your own classes gives you.” Although Davis still finds it scary to be in charge of her own path, she also finds it exciting. As a child studies major who aspires to be a teacher, Davis is excited to choose classes that interest her and get her closer to her goal of working with kids. “The freedom is scary, but it’s a really good scary.”