After spending a year as vice president, Lawrence University sophomore Brooklyn "Brook" Schara has stepped into her new role as president of the Lawrence University Community Council (LUCC).
As the student branch of Lawrence’s shared governance, LUCC recognizes and funds student organizations, acts as a forum for student voices, and plays a part in non-curricular legislation on campus.
“In a lot of ways, it’s the natural continuation,” Schara said. “I wanted to see all those things we were talking about and steering come full circle, and see those projects completed.”
Schara, from North Freedom, Wisconsin, is an international relations and Spanish double major. She brings with her experience as president of the First Generation Student Association and Lambda Sigma, vice president of external affairs in Kappa Kappa Gamma, and a member of SAASHA, the Honor Council, and Panhellenic Council.
Examine pressing issues of international security, challenges of political economies, and the influence of international institutions.
That is a lot of leadership and student involvement in just her second year.
“The reason it works for me is because they’re all passion points,” Schara said. “You’re not just supposed to be busy, you are supposed to be busy and loving the life you’re leading.”
Schara is excited to work for the student body, working efficiently to get Lawrence students what they need when they need it, whatever that may be.
“It’s always been a little bit hard for me to say what my plan is, because it’s going to depend on what we need,” she said. “Right now, a lot of it is unpacking the ‘Lawrence busy.’ That’s something LUCC has been working on since I got here.”
Along with responding to student interests, Schara is going to continue work that’s already been started in streamlining LUCC’s bylaws and legislation.
“In my last term as vice president, we looked at the organizational finance legislation and tidied it up—made it make a bit more sense,” she explained. “We’re also looking through and making sure our bylaws make sense with what we’ve already said, as well as finance, which is not a small job. You’re doing budget funding and emergency requests for 112 student orgs.”
Schara hopes to study abroad in London as part of her international relations major, and her plan after Lawrence is to attend law school to work in international labor law.
