LAPLACE — Ascension of Our Lord Catholic School seventh grader Lauryn Jones makes it her goal to focus on school, God and helping others.

“Lauryn is a great person,” Christine Escobar said. “She is always willing to help. She is one person when you walk down the hallway, no matter if you are the janitor or the principal, she will greet you by name. That alone says a lot about her character. She is a genuine person.”

Escobar is a school counselor at Ascension of our Lord and has known Lauryn, 12, for two years.

“She is the first one to tell me if something is going on in a class,” Escobar said. “She doesn’t tell in a tattling way, but more of a concerned way. She is kind, nice and overall friendly.”

At Ascension, Lauryn is in a number of different organizations, sports and in all honors classes.

Currently, she is the president of the BETA club.

“BETA club is an awesome club,” Lauryn said.

“It’s basically where you help the community and the school. We make money for our club and the school. We just did a family night, and it was a blast. We are also going to have a craft sale, a dance and maybe a treat sale too.”

Lauryn is also part of the 4-H club, adding its the most fun club.

“You get to help out your community, your school and everybody else,” she said. “It’s for leadership, it’s for friends and it’s for community.”

Lauryn is a member of the cheerleading team and at the time of her interview with L’OBSERVATEUR, she didn’t know that she had made the basketball team.

Along with juggling clubs, school and sports, Lauryn has won the Christian Citizenship award twice.

“It means you are loyal, faithful and you are respectful to your classmates and teachers,” she said. “I won in fifth grade and sixth grade. It felt great; it let me know that I was doing things for my school and my friends. That’s all I could ask for.”

Lauryn is also active outside of school, by helping with her church and also the cleaning health units in Reserve.

“I like to help out whenever my mom’s friend needs help,” Lauryn said. “It’s fun to do good things for my community, and I really do love helping others. I go anytime I get a chance.”

In her eyes, faith is very important to Lauryn.

“I to went to vacation Bible school this past summer,” she said. “Every time I go, I always have a great time. We do fun activities and we learn more about Jesus every time. I’ve been three times. I go through my church, Our Lady of Grace Church in Reserve.”

Lauryn wears many different hats at her church in Reserve, like serving as an alter server and Eucharistic minister.

“As an alter server you help the priest,” Lauryn said. “We carry the cross and get everything prepared. It’s a lot of work, but it really is fun. As for being a Eucharistic minister, I love it. Going out to people who can’t go to church and giving them Communion makes be feel like a better person for God. I love seeing their faces, it’s really fun,”

Lauryn is also a lector at church.

Besides working with her church, Lauryn has found another way to incorporate faith and community, by being a part of Jr. Daughters.

“It’s an organization that helps the community,” Lauryn said. “We normally try to do fundraisers to help us get to convention to get ideas of how we can help our community more. I joined around third or fourth grade. I wanted to get to know Jesus more, and it felt like such a great organization for me. It’s really fun and I encourage everyone to join.”

God and community have a special place in Lauryn’s heart.

“Knowing God more puts you closer to him,” Lauryn said. “That way you can know him more, love him more and appreciate him. I want everyone to know God more. To me, helping my community is really fun because I get to know my community more and see more people I might not have seen before.”

— By Raquel Derganz Baker