For senior goalkeeper Lauren Johnston, her final year at Northwestern is all about showing leadership on the pitch and encouraging her team to better results.
But this attitude isn’t constrained to the game for Johnston.
Over the years, she has been involved as a member of the nation-wide group, Student Movement for Real Change. Earlier this year, she founded a chapter at NU.
“I started it with some friends from back home in Colorado,” Johnston said. “Earlier, it was just something we used to do with the soccer team, but this summer, we sent a couple of students on an internship to Africa, and now we’re trying to open it up to the entire student body.”
The group’s mission statement concerns giving students a platform to involve themselves with health and education issues in developing countries around the world.
The NU chapter sent two students on an internship this summer to community development programs in the Manyeleti region of South Africa.
Over the years, Johnston has convinced her teammates to get involved with the group. Last spring, the team raised money to build soccer fields for the Manyeleti community.
Johnston said it was great working with her teammates and the group activity helped them bond.
Johnston also convinced junior Jeanette Lorme to help found the group with her at NU.
“(Lauren) explained her connection to the organization in the winter of last year and we found that we had similar aims,” Lorme said. “This quarter, we’re just starting up and getting the chapter firmly involved. It has the potential to be very popular on campus as a lot of students are really interested.”
For Lorme, Johnston is an important leader not just on the team but also as co-founder of the organization.
“On the field, Lauren’s a senior goalkeeper and a great leader at the back,” Lorme said. “She’s also really good at making people talk and getting people involved, and that’s great for the group.”
As far as soccer taking a back seat, both players said it was out of the question.
“Soccer’s always been a part of my life and it’s always my priority,” Johnston said. “You have to compartmentalize as an athlete, and it just means we need to compartmentalize a bit more.”
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