No matter the weather Lauren Long can be found walking to class or digging through the nifty clothes in thrift stores around town. Long is a senior Biology major from Detroit, Michigan by way of Atlanta, Georgia.
Long decided to attend Alcorn State University after receiving an out-of-state grant and scholarship from the Alcorn Detroit Alumni Association. She made the trip from Detroit to Alcorn in 2010 to study Nursing. She says the setting was different from the one back in her home town but she adjusted quickly
“Coming to Alcorn was my first time in the state of Mississippi,” Long said, “I felt like I was in a whole new world.”
Long’s motto in life is to live for new things and experiences. In the fall of 2013, Long changed her major from Nursing to Biology/Health Science after realizing that her future had a different plan. The Biology Department has been very beneficial to her as she was able to intern in India over the summer.
“I discovered that being a nurse wasn’t for me and that I enjoyed learning the clinical side of science opposed to patient to patient contact,” she said.
Long studied abroad in Bangalore, India at St. Johns University during a paid internship program. The program was designed for minorities to study and complete presentations in the duration of an eight week program in a different country. Long worked with two other students from Alcorn on individual projects that they presented at the end of their stay in India. At the end of the program the group of students flew to San Antonio, Texas to present their projects against other participants.
“India was a learning experience,” Long said, “The students there attend classes six days a week so we had to go to school on Saturday but I loved it.”
Long says living in India for the summer changed her life and made her even more excited to start her career in medicine as a Health Scientist. She is a member and Chapter Historian of the Gamma Phi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority on the campus of Alcorn State University.
After graduation she plans to move back to Atlanta to attend Georgia State University’s Masters of Education Program. Her overall career plan is to teach middle school science and aid in better educating minorities in inner city schools about Biology.
“Biology is the study of life and without it mankind is ignorant to all that life and health actually is,” she says.