Originally from Eubank, Kentucky, Lauryn Burdine (TD ‘24.5) is an American Studies major pursuing the EDST Intensive Certificate. When she’s not reading, hiking, camping, & collecting vinyls, Lauryn is busy exploring her interests in rural and Appalachian education, FGLI education, and education in prison. Lauryn has delved into these topics in courses like EDST 263: College in Prison, where she shared her enthusiasm and curiosity with passionate professors. For her field experience, she worked as a live-in program assistant for Thrive Scholars, an extended college access summer camp that supports rising BIPOC and FGLI seniors in their admission to top universities. During this time, Lauryn found it fascinating to watch the way young people were exposed to theory and information about topics like gender, sexuality, race, etc, which took her until college to access. After completing her capstone memoir about Appalachian education and the transition to Yale, Lauryn plans to start teaching, hopefully, either with students abroad or incarcerated students.