Lauren Mar ’25
By Emily Glory Peters
Lauren Mar ’25’s earliest memory of Scripps College is of community. During her first night on campus back in 2021, she found herself at Revelle House—a residence hall at the heart of campus—trading stories late into the night, “squished into the living room with about 30 strangers.”
“I was extremely nervous,” Mar recalls. “It was post-COVID-19, and most of us hadn’t had a real high school graduation. We were so used to being socially distanced that I was grateful to have made friends right away.”
While her friendships were new, her interest in storytelling was not. At first drawn to journalism, Mar’s time in a senior seminar led by Professor of Writing Kim Drake was a fortuitous move that shaped her choice to minor in Asian American studies and double major in media studies and writing and rhetoric.
“Since I was the only first-year student in the class, the seniors nurtured me and gave me a good sense of the major and its community,” she says. Her exposure to other genres like poetry, essay writing, and creative nonfiction sparked fresh ideas for Mar’s future career.
“I took really cool classes with all the Mary Routt Chairs of Writing, including Ariana Reines and Maryam Chancy, who was like a mentor to me—she encouraged my writing, gave great feedback, and even let me know about the Los Angeles Review of Books. I wound up interning for them because she introduced the opportunity,” says Mar.
The job led to a cascade of internships in digital and social media marketing, including working with a film production company in London, England, and Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles, where she supported marketing campaigns for major film releases.
“I discovered a passion for tapping into cultural moments,” she says. “I want to stay in the realm of visual art and entertainment to see how culture is formed and responds to changes in the world.”
Growing as a leader and forming the bedrock of future community building
Embracing the ambiguity of her own capacity for change was one of Mar’s biggest challenges over the last four years. Now, she considers it one of her greatest strengths.
“Scripps has given me the safety and security to explore new things and determine what speaks to me and what doesn’t,” she says. “That’s something I’ll continue to do beyond college.”
Mar has also continued to build a deeply connected life at Scripps since that first night in Revelle. During her sophomore year, she joined Scripps’ Asian American Sponsor Program (AASP), a peer-to-peer empowerment network for the Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American campus community. Calling her involvement “foundational” to her Scripps experience, she quickly became co-head of the program, leading 20 mentors and helping expand the program to support more than 70 first-year students.
At Scripps, I’ve been empowered to advocate for myself and to create such strong, lasting relationships through classes, the Asian American community, the journal—I’ve made relationships that I’m really proud of.
She’s excelled as a leader in other arenas, too, serving on the 7C Asian American Advisory Board, refining fellow students’ writing skills as a mentor for Core classes, and spotlighting emerging artists as the poetry editor for Scripps College Journal, a student-run literary and arts magazine. Each opportunity revealed a personal strength and brought meaningful people into her life.
“I’ve learned a lot about what that means to be a mentor, how to lean on others, and how to go after what I want,” she says. “At Scripps, I’ve been empowered to advocate for myself and to create such strong, lasting relationships through classes, the Asian American community, the journal—I’ve made relationships that I’m really proud of.”
Transitioning from her life in Claremont won’t be easy, she admits. She’ll miss matriculation—“haven’t missed one the last four years!”—dining on bread pudding at Malott Commons, and dancing with her friends on Lower Bowling Green.
Yet the excitement from her fellow soon-to-be-graduates is palpable. As she steps into her new life as a Scripps College alum, she hopes others will pick up the mantle of protecting much-needed spaces like AASP. Meanwhile, she’ll be standing by to help future students shift from strangers in a res hall living room to a lifelong support system.
“Alums carry so much institutional history and maintain so many important connections for students,” she says. “I want to be part of seeing our community succeed.”