Lauren Ashley McCain

Lauren Ashley McCain, a tribal member of the Choctaw Nation, was a freshman from Hampton, Va., majoring in international studies. She loved the Virginia Tech campus, her professors, and fellow students and said that Virginia Tech was “almost heaven.” At Tech, she loved those she met with the same love that her God and her hero, Jesus Christ, had shown her and told them about Him.

Lauren took her studies very seriously and strived for excellence. She spoke often with her professors and their teaching assistants and was never satisfied with less than her best. As much as she cared about learning, she cared about people more. She had a quirky sense of humor and love of life that she shared with everyone. Her smile was always bright and ready to cheer those around her. She had the divine ability to make you feel like you were her best friend.

Lauren had many interests and was active in several different organizations and groups on campus. She combined her love of music and physical activity in her daily workouts and runs. She shared many fun times through her involvement with intramural soccer and women’s flag football. She had a long-standing love of the German language and culture and took every opportunity to share that with others. And because of her love of Jesus Christ, she was active in Campus Crusade for Christ, New Life Christian Fellowship, and Bridges International Ministries.

Lauren cared deeply about the international community and she was deeply involved with campus ministries aimed at reaching out to international students. She spoke often of her desire to travel, to study abroad, and to one day live and work in another country and share the love of Christ with those He placed in her life. She saw every person as uniquely valuable, and purposefully invested herself in those she met.

Lauren loved God. She had faith that her savior Jesus Christ had placed her at Virginia Tech with a mission and a purpose: to touch those she met with His love and to glorify Him. She did nothing in her own power but drew close to Him and allowed Him to touch those around her through her words and actions. Lauren’s belief in God and Jesus as her savior is expressed in her own testimony: “I don’t have to argue religion, philosophy, or historical evidence because I KNOW HIM. He is just as real, if not more so, as my earthly father.”