Name: Lauren Robertson
Year: Senior
Hometown: Sarasota, Florida
Major: Creative Writing
Minor(s): Psychology and Economics
Her Campus (HC): Can you tell us a little bit about the Honors Delegates here at FSU?
Lauren Robertson (LR): Honors Delegates is an organization of ambassadors for the Honors Program, with our key goal being to recruit top-performing high school students to contribute to Florida State becoming a Top 25 university. This is geared towards the Honors College, but it’s beneficial for Florida State as a whole because if we get students that are more competitive, it leads to more funding for different academic programs, which then benefits all students here at Florida State. We work mostly in Honors Preview, which is during the spring when we’re most active. We speak to prospective freshmen students that are interested in the Honors Program. Typically, now that they know they got accepted, but they don’t know whether or not they want to go to Florida State or not, we’re really sales people in a way. We’re basically showing them everything that Florida State has to offer and show them how great they can be here. It’s really awesome seeing them the next year walking around campus knowing that you helped them make that decision.
HC: What do you do as President for the organization?
LR: As President, I work as the idea-maker as well as listening to the ideas of other people in the organization. They each have their own area that we’re trying to progress within this organization as a whole. I’m in charge of recruiting along with my recruiting executive board and I’ve been trying to be really proactive in receiving funding. We’ve also been doing community service and something that I’ve been thinking of is doing a Christmas drive; where we’re maybe going to pair with my workplace, Shula’s, in order to raise money for presents for the children of parents that can’t afford them. This will kind of be like a guiding light towards Florida State.
HC: How did you first learn about the program?
LR: Our Honors Student Association (HSA) and the Honors Delegates sent out notices that they were accepting applications. When I got the email asking if I wanted to be in the Honors Delegates, I accepted because when I decided to go to Florida State, everyone had always told me that that it was the “back-up school,” but I really never felt that way about Florida State. I wanted to join an organization that I felt would give me a way to contribute to a school that has given me so much as well.
HC: And your organization helped contribute to FSU’s rise in the rankings, right? How did that happen?
LR: We did help contribute, because there are a lot of things they look at. We have something here called the Presidential Scholars that just started three years ago, which are for those students that are academically exceptional. Recruiting those students is beneficial because they automatically do research. By having those students, it makes Florida State much stronger of a campus, because they’re the ones creating a higher GPA for the ones in the school, which in turn make it more competitive.
HC: What’s something that you most enjoy as an Honors Delegate?
LR: I really like talking to incoming students and telling them to do something that they’re passionate about. My creative writing major only made me more diversified and it really comes to your personality if you want to succeed. My mom always told me that as long as you do what you love, money will follow. I also really like that the Honors Delegates gives me a platform to speak to these students that are overwhelmed with the process of applying to college and letting them know that it’s going to be okay.