“Last year, it was like ‘this is my last opportunity to do it’ ... it was something that I had to apply for and I had to give myself the chance to follow.”
In October, she was accepted into the arts and culture reporting programme, where she will learn from journalists, film and fashion critics and develop her critical writing skills.
Potential speakers include theatre reporter Michael Paulson, senior staff editor of arts and leisure Kathleen Massara, and arts and culture reporter Julia Jacobs.
Lauren said the programme encompassed every part of who she was and what she enjoyed.
“I really love musical theatre and singing, I used to be really big on art when I was younger and I’ve got really into Model UN [United Nations] and culture.
“I remember scrolling through the different course catalogues and I was like ‘I have to do that one because it is calling to me’. It was basically called the Lauren course.”
Writing had followed her through life, she said.
“When I was back in primary school, I was always the one that would keep writing their stories, while everyone else had their one-page little story that ended with ‘the end’.
“I was there with my five pages, trying to think of the right word to describe something.
“There’s something so powerful about writing. You can think of anything you want and manipulate the words. It’s kind of like art but it’s more expressive – you don’t have to have an idea and you can take it wherever you want.”
Lauren has received regional recognition for her writing, with placings in the South Taranaki Lysaght-Watt Trust Ronald Hugh Morrieson Literary Awards for three consecutive years.
“I’m bad at putting things into physical words, sometimes, but writing flows a lot more easily for me.”
Lauren’s sister, Ebony Kalin, studies at Duke University in the United States.
Ebony was the only Australasian among 25 international students selected for early acceptance at Duke in 2024.
She will travel from North Carolina to see Lauren before her course begins on June 21.
Lauren said after initially feeling nervous, she was excited about the opportunity ahead of her.
“It is just two weeks of perfection from what I have seen,” she said.
“I hope to gain some insight; being from somewhere as small as South Taranaki, I’m excited to go somewhere where there is everyone.
“I hope to come back a new person. Obviously, I’m going to take who I am and bring my ideas but I’d love to go to a city like New York to not only bring my ideas but bring them back to New Zealand.”
Lauren, who won a partial scholarship, has been working at Subway Hāwera to cover costs.
“I’ve been working my fair share of hours, making way too many sandwiches.”
She will swap Subway for the subway before heading home on July 3.
Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.
