A filmmaker, photographer and pianist who might become a lawyer
Lauren Koenig, Solomon Schechter High School, class of 2008 (June 9, 2008) Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara
During a high school career filled with music, art and history studies, Lauren Koenig made some history.
With no experience in video cameras, she educated herself in the latest technology and became a maker of historic documentaries. Films, she decided, "create a sense of reality and immediacy that can transverse the difference in centuries for the viewers."
She made six documentaries, combining photos, interviews, film footage, news clippings and period music. One documentary on John Muir, the early environmentalist, made the finals in National History Day competition. Others, including documentaries on inventor Thomas Edison, commentator Edward R. Murrow, Theodore Roosevelt and the Panama Canal and World War I President Woodrow Wilson, won Long Island Regional and New York State Archives Awards for Excellence in Student Research Using Historical Records.
A top student at Solomon Schechter High School of Long Island in Glen Cove, Koenig also made her name as an artist. She took first place in juried art competitions, founded the school's photography club and had a photography exhibit at Old Westbury Gardens. A pianist with a passion for both classical music and jazz, she founded and performed with the school's Jazz Band. She also served as editor of the yearbook and a member of the Model Congress.
"I got a lot out of high school by participating in after-school activities and competitions," said Koenig who commuted to the school from her Valley Stream home. Summers were spent at the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, first as a student and later as an arts partner, mentoring younger students.
Recently returned from a senior class trip to Israel, Koenig was an enthusiastic participant, interested in everything and asking intelligent questions, said Adele Spickler, assistant principal who accompanied the group. Koenig said she took lots of photographs and some home movies.
Lauren retains "an inherent respect for others that endears her to her classmates," according to Robin Stanton, English coordinator.
Koenig will take a different career turn at Vanderbilt University this fall. She'll major in political science with the possibility of going on to law school. But she hasn't given up on the arts.
Vanderbilt, she said, "has a great music department."
