# @masscommwinthrop on Facebook

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.facebook.com/419353681520407/posts/4276509702471433
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/23270028-masscommwinthrop-facebook
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/2cef0469f1.jpg
- **Posted:** 2021-11-02T17:59:22.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Department of Mass Communication Winthrop University (@masscommwinthrop) — https://gondola.cc/masscommwinthrop

## Caption

Lauren Gustafson, IMC major, Winthrop 2022

FIND YOUR OWN PATH. 
NEVER GIVE UP ON YOURSELF. 

““Happiness, for me, seems to be a byproduct of helping others. 

I am looking forward to graduating [in May 2022] from Winthrop University with an IMC degree. I currently work a full-time job at a local nonprofit that helps seniors in York county and neighboring counties”. 

Someone once told me once that your purpose in life was not to be happy, but rather to be useful. By graduating with my degree, my goal is to help nonprofits bring awareness to issues we have here in our community. I believe my degree and the education I have received at Winthrop will prepare me to enter a world of communication and assist nonprofits on reaching their goals through awareness campaigns, fundraising and public relations. This will allow me to expand my reach into the community to help those who need it”. 

Her journey has not been easy. She explains: "I am a single mom and have two beautiful daughters, Lillian (9 years old) and Olivia (7 years old). I dropped out of Winthrop in 2010 after I began struggling in my personal life. I only meant to leave for a semester, maybe a year, to get a handle on my life. I never meant to leave for so long or to get so lost. 

After 10 years of struggle, I looked around and the life I saw was not one I wanted for my children or myself. I did not know how to start or where I would go. 

I slowly started putting one foot in front of the next. Sometimes I took it day by day and other times, I needed to go minute by minute. I tried to make the next right decision, and if I didn’t know what that was, I stood still until it became clear. After minutes and hours and days and months turning into years of decisions and choices, I was eventually led back to Winthrop". 

Final words? “I want to show my daughters that it is never too late to right a wrong. It is never too late to try again. You can always restart your day, your week...and yes…even your life”.

#wearemasscomm #peopleofmasscomm #celebrating75years #mcomeaglesrock

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 22
- **Shares:** 3
- **Comments:** 2

## Tags

wearemasscomm, celebrating75years, mcomeaglesrock, peopleofmasscomm

---
Copyright (c) Gondola