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Lauren Elyse Martin ’17 wasn’t even looking for colleges when she came across the St. Olaf table at a college fair. It was her older brother’s turn to look at schools, but Martin fell in love with St. Olaf at first sight. Her brother ended up attending, prompting Martin’s joking reaction that “I picked it first. This is my school.”

“It was the classic ‘this just feels like home’ moment,” she says.

Since coming to St. Olaf, Martin has made the college her home completely, racking up accomplishments both on the soccer field and in the classroom.

This summer she participated in the SUCCESS Program, a 10-week research experience hosted by the Ohio State University Medical Scientist (MD-PhD) Training Program. She studied a mouse model of traumatic brain injury, which perfectly fit with her academic interest in neuroscience.

Although Martin has always known she was committed to a future in neuroscience, she came into school hoping to pursue a philosophy major — “classic Ole,” she jokes. She ended up choosing a chemistry major.

“But honestly, my major hardly defines my academic experience,” she says. “I’ve taken so many different classes. I took Chinese, Chinese literature, I studied abroad in Thailand for a sociology course — just a wide variety. Now looking back as a senior, there are so many more classes that I wish I took!”

She hopes to find her professional calling in the space between scientific research and human-oriented service — hopefully in the realm of biomedical engineering by “engineering new solutions for patients.” She is considering many possibilities for her future, including obtaining a master’s degree in engineering.

Outside of the classroom, Martin’s success continues as a member of the St. Olaf women’s soccer team.

“I’m not a star player on the team. I’m not a captain,” Martin says. “But yet I have found places where I can exhibit my leadership in different ways.”

This leadership and respect is evidenced by the fact that women’s soccer coach Rachael Sushner says Martin’s teammates call her a “Super Ole.”

Martin names her first collegiate soccer goal ever as one of her proudest moments on the team, and with good reason: it was a game-winning shot in overtime.

“Everyone was super excited that we won and it was just a really fun moment,” Martin says.

When she’s not on campus, Martin, a Colorado native, enjoys backpacking and hiking. She even embarked on a summer backpacking trip to Washington with her older brother, Austin — who majored in computer science and digital animation (a major he designed through the Center for Integrative Studies) at St. Olaf and now works as a software developer at ProtoLabs. Martin characterizes him as “a classic Ole success story, doing great right out of college.”

And Martin, with her academic drive and leadership on and off the field, is already well on her way to becoming one of those success stories as well.