Junior guard Lauren Uranker has made an impact on and off the basketball court at
Junior Lauren Uranker has always been a force to be reckoned with on the basketball court. She’s seeing and making positive impacts off the court too.
In high school, Uranker was the first female basketball player ever to break the 1,000-point barrier at
Uranker didn’t have a small Christian college in mind when she began searching for a school, nor was she a Christian when she chose
Uranker’s faith now plays a huge role in her life. She’s quick to confess that she is still a very new Christian and often feels like she is living two different lives. But she also noted that “God has shown [her] how real His love is and how good His freedom feels.”
What is remarkable about Uranker is not just her honesty when it comes to her faith but her willingness to serve others. Last year she filled a key role as the leader of Geneva’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and during the last two spring-break holidays she traveled to Harmons, Jamaica – an impoverished town in need of extra help and God’s love.
Along with other students through a missions program called Won by One, Uranker built and repaired houses and wells, meanwhile seeking to witness through both actions and words. Uranker said she’s received more from those experiences than she gave. Harmons, and particularly a little girl named “Cheniel,” taught her “the value of relationships, the insignificance of money, the freedom that comes with loving others, the amazing beauty in God’s creation and the importance of appreciating other cultures and their ways.”
When she’s not sinking nearly 50 percent of her three-point field goals (putting her at number one in the American Mideast Conference) and assisting the GTs to an incredible 21-4 season, or building houses in Jamaica, she spends her time reading and writing poetry, and dreaming about the rest of her life – traveling to New Zealand, skydiving (again!) and going back to Harmons.
