Hello! My name is Lauren Phillips. This is my third and final year at Longwood University. I am a Liberal Studies major with a minor in Children’s Literature. Prior to Longwood University, I attended John Tyler Community College where I took a lot of courses in English and writing, as well as History, Science, Religion, and Mathematics. These courses also included Children’s Literature- the books used, as well as its overall topics, greatly influenced my passion towards a minor. During this time, time management, goal setting, and organization became very important to me and something that I still continue to push for. My two main goals included transferring to a four-year college and becoming a member of Phi Theta Kappa (an honor society for community college students)- both of which I was able to accomplish!
When transferring to Longwood, I continued my coursework even more broadly- taking more courses in Children’s Literature as well as on the topics of History, Mathematics, Science, and Education. In my literature classes, I was able to learn how to pinpoint and research a variety of issues in children’s books, as well as examine the perspectives of different authors. I learned about the background histories of these books, their cultural contexts, different literary theories, and how to apply new ideas to texts during reading. These courses, as well as the others, taught me a lot about the importance of using different perspectives in a variety of circumstances. Not only that, but some of these courses also allowed me to work with and meet with people outside my major and minor. All of this encouraged group communication skills for projects and the sharing of different ideas. Outside of academics, I also pursued several leadership positions within my sorority Alpha Sigma Tau. Some of these positions included Secretary, Director of Music Education, and Vice President of Member Development. I feel being able to step out of your comfort zone a little bit in both work and leadership is a good thing. I was able to learn and grow a lot from these positions. It also taught me a lot about effective communication and public speaking.
My work experiences are very much centered around the restaurant industry. I have worked at four different restaurant locations from 2015-2018. I learned a lot about customer service, providing quality food/products, and working in a fast-paced environment from these experiences. It also taught me how to work effectively with others as a team and to step up when situations are getting particularly rough. These skill sets are ones that I consider to be a part of my current professional philosophy as well as academic. I hope to be able to add to these skills and grow even more professionally within my future career.
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