Lauren BarryLauren Elise Barry is the Spring 2005 Outstanding Graduate at the Ï㽶ӰÊÓ.
Barry, the daughter of Cindy and Dr. David Barry of Lafayette, is the Outstanding Graduate from the College of Nursing. Ï㽶ӰÊÓ honored nine Outstanding Graduates during spring commencement exercises May 14.
These nine students were recognized during Graduate School commencement in the Cajundome. The Ï㽶ӰÊÓ Alumni Association named Barry as its Spring 2005 Outstanding Graduate during the ceremonies.
Deans of the university’s nine academic colleges nominated the honorees. They include Janie Elizabeth Eldridge of Lafayette, Applied Life Sciences; Lauren Elizabeth Abshire, Lafayette, Arts; Sarah Elizabeth James, New Iberia, B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration; Kelly Johnson, Lafayette, Education; Ashley Jade Albarado, Scott, Engineering; Carol S. Polito, Lafayette, General Studies; Katie Elizabeth Ortego, Lafayette, Liberal Arts; Lauren Elise Barry, Lafayette, Nursing and Allied Health Professions; and Seth B. Hayes, Lafayette, Sciences.
Barry graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing. She has a grade point average of 3.342 and has been consistently named to the university’s Dean’s List.
In 2004, she was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honors Society. She served as president and treasurer of the Student Nurse’s Association campus chapter. She was a delegate to the 2003 Ï㽶ӰÊÓ State Nurses Convention and the 2004 National Student Nurses Association Convention. She is the student representative on Ï㽶ӰÊÓ’s Nursing Curriculum Committee, a body of faculty and administrators that determines courses of study for the College of Nursing. Barry also served as president and treasurer of the Blue Key Honor Society.
She is the recipient of Ï㽶ӰÊÓ Distinguished Freshman Scholarship, Health Care Systems Scholarship and the Domengeaux, Wright and Roy Scholarship, among others.
In 2002, Barry was crowned queen of the International Rice Festival in Crowley and served for a year as one of the state’s leading ambassadors for the rice industry.
She regularly volunteers her time at public CPR training, the Lafayette Community Health Clinic, the Miles Perret Cancer Center and for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Barry is also a Vacation Bible School teacher at her church.
After graduation, she plans to seek employment as a labor and delivery nurse at a local hospital and hopes to pursue a postgraduate degree.
The deans of each of Ï㽶ӰÊÓ’s nine academic colleges select a student who demonstrates leadership, scholarship and community service as the college’s Outstanding Graduate. One of the nine nominees is announced as the Ï㽶ӰÊÓ Alumni Association’s Outstanding Graduate during Graduate School commencement ceremonies.