Persistence in the face of difficulties: Lauryn Mackenzie

Lauryn Mackenzie is graduating this June with a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Media Studies. She is co-valedictorian for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, sharing the honour with fellow grad Siddhanth Arikari.

Lauryn is excited to see what the future holds and after graduation plans see where to road takes her.

“I might go headfirst into my dream career. I might travel the world, or fulfil my dream of moving to Portland, Oregon. Maybe I’ll join a band and tour with them for a while,” she says. “Who knows, but as of right now I’m just going with the flow and am excited to see what's next.”

As part of our series highlighting VIU’s 2022 valedictorians leading up to convocation on June 23 and 24, we caught up with Lauryn to learn why she decided to attend VIU, some highlights from her time here and her proudest achievement.

Why did you choose VIU?

I really liked the idea of having smaller class sizes and I thought the Digital Media Studies program sounded interesting and different compared to a lot of the other programs and schools I was looking at.

Can you share a highlight from your time at VIU?

One of my biggest highlights was when I was a community leader in VIU Residences, where I got to grow and learn a lot while also meeting the coolest people ever and making lifelong friendships.

What are you most proud of achieving since you began your studies?

I think overall my proudest achievement has been not giving up when life and school became really difficult and I became lost during my educational journey. I am proud that I never gave up and worked with the people around me to find ways to make school exciting again and to find a whole new world that I wanted to learn about and later work in.

Can you give us three random facts about yourself?

• I hope to one day own a tiny bee farm.
• I always keep my Razor scooter in the back of my car so I am always ready for a scooter ride.
• The Twilight series are my guilty pleasure movies.

What is one thing your fellow students may remember about you after graduation?

I hope my fellow students will remember me as the girl who was always spending all her time at the library watching the rabbits and not actually doing any work.

What advice would you give students following a similar trajectory as yourself?

I would tell students to get out there and enjoy their time at school while also getting out of their comfort zone by taking on new opportunities and trying new things.