Lauren Okine

Lauren Okine graduated from Yale College in 2025 with a B.A. in African Studies, a B.S. in Psychology, and a certificate in Education Studies. Her undergraduate coursework focused on strengthening connections within the African diaspora and developmental psychology, with an emphasis on racial literacy and belonging. She spent much of her Yale experience mentoring and building connections within the Black community. She spent two years leading the Urban Improvement Corps, an organization that partners Yale students with K-12 students in the New Haven community for tutoring and mentoring. She also served as a peer liaison with the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale and as a residential college first-year counselor. During her summers, she worked at a developmental psychology research lab focusing on children's beliefs about their own competence, spent time in Cameroon helping to lead a mental health summer camp for youth, and interned at the U.S. State Department, focusing on security in Africa. Lauren grew up in Dakota Dunes, South Dakota, and she hopes to pursue a law degree in the future.