Senior Lauren Sims, who is a team captain on the 49er women’s basketball team, has been selected as Long Beach State’s institutional representative to the Rhodes Scholar selection committee—for the following reasons.
A biology-physiology major with a minor in chemistry, Sims has maintained a 4.0 grade-point average while lettering three years in basketball and participating in numerous community service activities both on and off campus.
Sims has been the epitome of the student-athlete since she arrived at Long Beach State. The Principal’s Honor Roll and Golden Key International Honors Society member was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII team in each of the last two seasons. She is a two-time Big West Conference all-academic selection and was LBSU’s 2008-09 Big West Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. In addition, Sims received the NCAA Student-Athlete National Conference Participant Award and the Who’s Who in America’s Universities CSULB Award in 2008.
On the court, Sims earned All-Big West honors after finishing second among 49er starters with 9.1 points per game as a junior. She reached double-figures in scoring 11 times, including a career-high 22 points at Cal State Northridge. As a sophomore, Sims led the conference in 3-point accuracy at 38.2 percent.
The 5-foot-9 guard currently ranks fourth on the 49er career charts in 3-point field goals made (98) and is sixth in 3-point field goals attempted (271) and 3-point field goal percentage (.362).
In addition to her work in the classroom and in the gym, Sims has dedicated countless hours to community service activities. She has volunteered with St. Mary’s Medical Center Clinical Care Extender Hospital, Southern California Special Olympics and the Long Beach Marathon. She was also an organizer in the Big West Charity Coin Drive, which raised over $14,000 for selected charities.
On campus, Sims has served as a President Ambassador, Heads Up Freshman Advising mentor, and a public relations officer for The Organization of Pre-Professional Students. She has also been a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and will serve as the SAAC co-president this year.
In addition, Sims has taken part in the CSULB Human Development department’s Africa Awareness Project and has done research in the Biological Sciences department in mammalian physiology.
Sims’ post-collegiate goals include attending medical school and volunteering for Doctors Without Borders. CSULB President F. King Alexander, who has spent many years serving as chair and member of the Rhodes Scholar Selection Committee in Illinois and Kentucky, said of Sims, “Lauren is one of the most complete Rhodes candidates that I have seen in many years and she exemplifies the type of student leader that Cecil Rhodes intended the scholarship to serve.”
The Rhodes Scholarship was created as part of Cecil Rhodes’ will in 1902 and provides 32 scholarships to deserving students in the United States as well as students from other former British countries.
From LBSU reports