“It’s important not to judge someone before listening to them,” says Lauren Purnell, a first-generation college senior majoring in journalism and minoring in new media from Florence, NJ (Burlington County).
Lauren used her passion for storytelling and giving a voice to the voiceless to create a blog called Naming the Homeless, where her mission is about reducing “the stigma and the negative connotations attached to the word homelessness,” by interviewing homeless individuals to share their stories.
Lauren’s effort has led her to gain lots of support from her community, fundraising more than $1,000. Today, Lauren will share with us why she started the blog and what she has learned through the process of interviewing homeless individuals.
The idea of creating the Naming the Homeless blog came to Lauren when her Intro to Journalistic Writing professor at Rowan College at Burlington County (RCBC) explained to her class the importance in having outside work experience.
“I took that into heart and said, ‘OK, let me do a blog.’ I didn’t really know what to write about and … I didn’t want to write about myself. I was thinking about different issues that were important to me, and one of them is homelessness,” she says.
Lauren chose to venture to Philadelphia to find people to interview (Philadelphia has become a city with one of the highest poverty ratings in the nation). Each time Lauren went she took a couple of care packages that she put together with the help of her mother (who has supported Lauren from the very beginning) going with her to Philly each week.
The first time Lauren went to Philly, it took her a while to build up the courage to ask someone for an interview. “It’s kind of uncomfortable at first because you are just asking these searching questions. You never know what they are going to say and that is the best part, because you don’t know what they are going to tell you,” she says.
Lauren recalls one of the sweetest moments she has encountered:
“I had done my interview already for the day, but we passed an older lady and I asked her if she wanted a sandwich. She looked at me and my mom and was like ‘Thank you so much, I was having such a rough day, and this was a sign that I needed. Everything will be okay; this is my kids up in heaven telling me that it’s going to be alright and thank you so much, it really means a lot to me.”
In the beginning, Lauren made care packages that were paid out of her pocket, but as her blog grew and more people knew about her project, she started getting support and recognition. Lauren was interviewed by Fox 29 — “that got a lot of attention and I ended up having a GoFundMe, the biggest donation I got was from an organization who gave $250. Each of my care packages are like $20 so that really helped make an impact.”
Burlington County Times, Lauren’s hometown newspaper, interviewed her and gave her an internship opportunity over the summer. South Jersey Magazine did a feature of her as well. Lauren also won two awards. “At RCBC I got an award for journalism and I also got their Civility Award,” she says.
Lauren’s blog currently has over 1,200 subscriptions and over 500 likes on the Naming the Homeless Facebook page. “When I first started it, I was just doing it for personal reasons and then it took off. It was really because of my community [because] without their support I wouldn’t have been able to do it.
“Every time I leave an interview, I just want to take them home. You obviously want to see them again, but you really hope you don’t see them again because if you run into them again it means that they are probably in the same situation when you first saw them.”
After graduating, Lauren would like to continue writing community stories and continue giving a voice to the voiceless and working her way up to investigative reporting.
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Story by:
Iridian Gonzalez, senior journalism major
Photos courtesy of:
Lauren Purnell/Naming the Homeless
Julianne has always liked history, more specifically presidential history. “Their personal lives is the better part, because you learn so much about what they did in class but then you get to know more about them as people and that kind of makes a bigger picture.”
because she though that other students from other colleges in Pennsylvania had a better chance due to them being closer. To Julianne’s surprise, after her interview within an hour she was already signing papers to start interning there. “I wouldn’t have heard about it if it wasn’t for Dr. Janofsky, I am very thankful.” 
1. The Community in Mimosa 
Meet Natalia Panfilova, a 2017 graduate from the 
Commuter
“What I was looking for was not at Salisbury, Maryland. Don’t get me wrong — I had a great time, but sometimes having a great time doesn’t mean you’re being productive,” Jamal says.
These are just three ways how I have gotten involved here at Rowan, but there are so many other ways to get involved.
Meet Anjeliah 
“Don’t listen to people who are trying to put your idea down,” Anjeliah says. “They might say that it’s a horrible idea or it’s too much money, but If you keep a growth mindset and not a fixed mindset, then you can literally do anything.”
When I was looking at colleges, I really thought I was going to go to NJIT like my godmother. I went to two NJIT open houses and two open houses for Rowan. NJIT was a nice sunny day, nice weather, and it still didn’t feel like home. When I went down to Rowan, it was cold, windy and rainy, and yet it still felt like home. I went with Rowan because even on a day like that, it seemed like a nice place to be.
In the morning I first come in and talk with the engineering department, I ask what they’re working on and what products are coming down the pike. As the day goes on, I spend time with the operations department. Same thing, I ask what they’re working on, what service call popped up. And I also check in with our sensor monitoring center to see how everything is going and how our clients are doing. As the afternoon goes along, I have meetings and conference calls with our clients and vendors. And I kind of spend my time rotating around all functions of the business.
What else caught your attention about Rowan? The school was pretty diverse. I’m from Africa and in Africa we always treat each other like family, and we are all about feeling welcomed. So, I wanted to be in a place where people were welcoming and where I wouldn’t feel left out.
don’t know anyone at the event you come back knowing about 10 people. There was one time I went to this event, I think the African Student Association hosted it, I didn’t know anyone — at the end of the day I knew like 10 different people. I didn’t feel like an international student anymore. Everyone is included here; all the opportunities are for everyone. 
What would you share with a future student interested in your major? I would tell them that Molecular and Cellular Biology is definitely a little harder than regular biology, because the engineering base classes, or statistics-based classes, are harder than the classes that biology students take. I would say that you get a better variety of subjects, you get to learn so many other things than what a regular bio major does. If you are looking to branch out in college in your education, but not to an extreme degree and if you don’t have enough time to take on a minor then taking a major where you have some flexibility in your classes is really good. If you want to experience something else besides regular science classes, then you should try Molecular and Cellular Biology.
How does your field impact the world? It’s very research based A lot of my professors that teach my classes actually do research, like cancer research, different blood pathogens research, different diseases research. There’s a lot of research that goes into it.
I volunteered a lot in high school, too. I was in Key Club, so I did a lot of volunteering then and I wanted to continue here. I was a leader this year because I loved it so much my freshman year. I wanted to do it again and have a positive impact on the incoming first-year students, because that was really important to me.”
What was your favorite activity?
Every year entering students (freshmen and transfers) who have registered for the program arrive early on-campus for the Fall semester and participate in group activities run by Rowan’s staff members and upper-class student leaders.
This year there were four student leaders and they all had to work together in planning different types of activities for the participants to do during their free time. “We put together a scavenger hunt and some games,” she said.
Being a student leader has taught Rose to work along with other fellow leaders, bounce off ideas from one another and how to make plans in a group where everyone agrees.
Gaspare is a transfer student from 
Gaspare is doing his work under a hood at regular temperature and regular pressure, because it’s much safer and financially achievable for most labs.
Alyssa will become the first doctor in her family; both her parents chose different careers outside of the medical field. “I really want to become a doctor, so I liked how it [the TBS major] kind of had a built-in premed track. I want to be a pediatrician,” she said.
Meet 
How did PCI help you prepare for college? “It helped me a lot. My mother is Dr. Penny McPherson Myers [from the 
Derek first attended Drew University but decided to transfer to Rowan University his sophomore year. “Once I made the decision that Drew wasn’t for me, I immediately went straight to Rowan. My sister also graduated from Rowan, so it was either Drew, Rutgers or Rowan. And then I decided that Rowan was the perfect fit. I didn’t even go to the school [Rowan], since my sister went there, so it was a whole new campus that I found when I transferred there,” Derek said.
In 2017, Derek started up his own social media business called 
He also started his own sports podcast with two current Rowan students. The podcast is called 
She has recently worked with clients such as P&G, The Home Depot, Purina, Merial, Abbott Nutrition and PayPal. 
Cohen.
us in PCI were first-generation students. So, I didn’t feel alone because we were on the same page. We understood the situation we were in. It was a mixture [in our] group, and that is why PCI is so great, it builds relationships and gives support out for people who need it.”
Kathy Vause shares her own experience as a parent on how she helped her recently graduated daughter adjust to “adulting.” 
