campus directory

Lauren Bauernschmidt

Program of Emphasis: Environmental Science

Hometown: Oxford, PA

High School: Oxford Area High School

Why I chose to attend Juniata: I chose Juniata because of all the opportunities it offers as well as the close knit community it is. When I came to this campus I realized that Juniata cared about their students in a way no other school I looked at did. Juniata has professors and faculty that care for me and will do what they can to help me.

Clubs and Organizations: I am involved in the Juniata Environmental Coalition, the Juniata Dance Ensemble, JC Divers, PAWS, Mud Junkies, Colleges Against Cancer, and the Relay for Life Committee. I am a choreographer for the Dance Ensemble and I help set up our dance show each year. I am a Luminaria Chair on the Relay for Life Committee and I helped set up various activities as well as the closing ceremonies. I am also Scuba certified through JC Divers.

Internship: This past summer I was an Inbound Intern for the Inbound Program, which is the incoming student acclimation program Juniata offers. I was in charge of organizing 13 retreats, making all arrangements for each retreat, and working the freshmen orientations to get them excited about the college and encouraging them to join Inbound. Also, during Inbound week I trained the Peer Leaders leading each retreat as well as ran the program during Inbound. It was stressful and rewarding and I learned a lot from the experience.

Research Participation: I am currently working on research on Lake Raystown studying fish ecology in both non macrophyte and macrophyte areas. I am one of the two main researchers on this project. I am responsible for setting and retrieving our gill net, measuring, keying and tallying each fish in the net, finding sampling sites, taking physiochemical data at each site as well as depth and macrophyte samples. The research paper will be finished at the end of the semester.

Most Interesting Class: My most interesting class this year so far has been Sense of Place. It is taught by Chuck Yohn at the Field Station (where I'm studying). We are learning about the Raystown Lake area as well as the history of Huntingdon county. It is interesting to me because I am a history junkie and I love discovering new things about this area. We are also learning about agriculture of the area and the conflicts with the Army Corps. The best thing has been us making apple butter the traditional way in old iron kettles with Clare Grove (old owner of Grove Farm) telling stories about what it was like as a child here and what it was like after the dam was built.

Favorite Faculty Member: Denny Johnson has been key to helping me in not only my academic but personal life. I was comfortable enough to talk to him about my financial difficulties and how I would be unable to study abroad in the Galapagos. I made this decision only a few weeks ago and I am studying abroad in the spring. He calmed my fears, made so many phone calls and found a way for me to still be able to go abroad. I will be going to India in the spring and it's thanks to him. Denny makes me feel like I'm more like his daughter than his student and I am so happy he is my advisor.

Thank you!

I want to thank you for the kind donation that you have made to help me to continue to attend Juniata College. Without the scholarships I receive from the Juniata Scholarship Fund, I wouldn't be attending Juniata. My financial situation is difficult and it means so much to me to be at Juniata.

Gratefully,
Lauren Bauernschmidt
Class of 2014