Lauren Hashiguchi is a progressive visionary whose accomplishments include leadership of the OneWorld social justice magazine on campus, and receiving a Truman Scholarship, a prestigious award based on leadership that provides $30,000 to students pursuing graduate school.

Hashiguchi is a senior with an investigative medical sciences major, and  minors in both biology and community health.

“OneWorld was journalism, there was a need for leadership, and there was social justice.  It really fit exactly what I wanted to do in college,” Hashiguchi said.

Hashiguchi has served as the editor-in-chief of OneWorld magazine since her sophomore year, drawing from her strong passion for social justice in all aspects of life.

In high school, Hashiguchi was strongly affected by reckless teen driving, which she said inspired her to strive to make a difference.

The All State Foundation recognized Hashiguchi and asked her to be their national spokesperson for a teen-led movement in the country called Keep the Drive. Hashiguchi was even extended as far as writing for the New York Times.

When Hashiguchi came to college and saw the broad scope that OneWorld provided, it gave her a new goal. She saw it as a new way to influence the world.

“The goal of OneWorld is to make social justice accessible to people,” Hashiguchi said.

“We want to use [it] to let people know in a very unbiased, very straightforward way why social justice is important, why it fits into everyone’s lives, and why we need to fight for it.”

This year, the magazine has high hopes for holding a strong online presence.

“Magazines are so important and it is piece of art and a community project, but we also want to make sure that we do not overlook the importance of online expansion,” Hashiguchi said.

“SLU is a unique college campus, and all of the students and faculty are amidst all kinds of social work happening on campus as well as four blocks away in the city.”

OneWorld aims to be  a social justice umbrella that uses journalism to promote various volunteer opportunities. They want to give readers a new way to think about the world far away and around them, and to provide students a resource regarding social justice-based graduate programs.

OneWorld also does social justice workshops and co-sponsors Haiti fundraising.

When Hashiguchi was a freshman, the OneWorld staff was made up entirely of seniors. When they graduated, Hashiguchi was left with the responsibility of continuing the project into the future as the new leader of the organization.

Now, as it will soon be her turn to graduate, Hashiguchi said she is proud of what she has accomplished and is ready to move ahead.

She said she is proud of the great strides that the magazine has taken and is very confident in the leadership that will continue to do great things after she has left SLU.

Graduate school is on the horizon for Hashiguchi, but it will be among members of the presidential administration on Capital Hill.

As a Truman Scholar, she will have funding to go to graduate school for public service.

There are 60 Truman Scholars in the country, and all of them will meet for a summer institute in Washington D.C. where they will live and work with government organizations together and attend policy workshops.

After this, Hashiguchi said she plans to head to graduate school to achieve her dreams.

“Being a part of OneWorld has really engaged me in the community.  I haven’t been just a student, I have been someone who has been able to explore all of the little niches of SLU and what students are doing and how they can do it better,” Hashiguchi said.