AWARD WINNERS
Lauren Buchanan - 2005 Runner up
Age: 21
University: London School of Economics
Degree: Geography
Lauren Buchanan, who studies Geography at Queen's University Belfast, has already been marked out as an exceptional student, having won the university's student of the year award.
Throughout her time at Queen's, Lauren has been strongly involved with her community, and was the first student to train and lead a cross-community team for Habitat for Humanity, where Catholics and Methodists built houses for the poor in Bolivia. Despite illness preventing her from actually going, Lauren was able to raise £25,000 for the project.
Lauren also runs the Methodist Society at Queen's and has worked to foster links with the Catholic societies and she is a member of a campaign group who promote Fair Trade.
Lauren enjoys working with others, and having gained a certificate in counselling she helps other students, and is a warden in a university hall of residence. She has also won the university's Higginson Leadership Award, thanks to all of her extra-curricular activities, which judges felt encouraged a sense of social responsibility and leadership at Queen's.
She is keen to make an impact with all her work, saying: "Since going to university I have learnt a lot about how easy it is to make a difference in the world we live in. Those seemingly simple actions can make a huge difference."
Her work extends beyond university life, and she volunteers in a youth club in a notorious conflict area of Belfast. She has also spent three summers in Argentina, taking education equipment for an orphanage and street children, and for her dissertation she is studying the lives of street children and orphans in Bolivia and Argentina.