Lauren Mondschein, a senior at Greenwich High School, is an Executive Board Member of the First Selectman’s Youth Commission (FSYC), a group of students dedicated to addressing youth concerns in the Greenwich community. Through FSYC, Lauren served as a facilitator of the 2022 Greenwich Student Diversity Leadership Conference, a 6-hour workshop where youth from diverse backgrounds come together to address issues of equality, justice, and allyship. Lauren was trained to guide her peers in breakout discussions, and developed and implemented actionable solutions to mitigate discrimination. For the 2022-2023 school year, Lauren is currently developing Conscious Coping, an FSYC project for high school students to learn meaningful strategies to help cope with depression, anxiety, toxic thought processes, and overall social or academic stressors of living in a high-pressure environment. With the support of community mental health providers, students will engage in cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive bias, and activities to restructure thought processes, ease anxiety and panic, help with self-image, and establish healthy habits.

In addition to the First Selectman’s Youth Commission, Lauren has been on the executive board of Generation Impact throughout her four years of high school. In 2021-2022, Lauren served as the Events Chair to guide the planning and implementation of the four philanthropic Big Events and other volunteer opportunities. For the 2022-2023 school year, Lauren is the Greenwich High School Membership Chair to recruit and motivate its 100 members to attend events and lead grant reviews. 

For tickets, go to www.ywcagrn.org/inspire

At Greenwich High School, Lauren is an active member of her school community. She has played field hockey for four years and is captain of the Varsity Field Hockey team. Lauren is co-president of the Young Women in Business Club, where she developed a lecture series that features distinguished businesswomen in the community who share their experiences and insights to inspire future women leaders and empower students to pursue their passion for business. Lauren is also president of the LINK Community Service Club, dedicated to researching and promoting local volunteer opportunities. Lauren supports her passion for remediating childhood hunger by coordinating meal-packing events with Filling in the Blanks, a local non-profit, in collaboration with the Hope Club. 

Lauren is a leader of the student-run non-profit RAMPKids, an organization dedicated to fighting childhood hunger in Appalachia. As a student leader, she organizes fundraising efforts to raise money for the RAMPKids Backpack Snack Program in the Martin County Kentucky School District, which sends food home in the backpacks of 350 school children every month. Over the summer, she participates in a service trip to Martin County, Kentucky, where approximately 37% of the population lives below the poverty level. There she distributes fresh produce in a food pantry and performs community service in the homes of the families in the program