Laurens is an undergraduate majoring in International Business Administration with
a minor in International Relations. In this interview from May, he discusses his classes,
his role as the president of Green Web, and his plans for the future.
Where are you from originally?
I was born in the United States but both of my parents are Dutch. I’m from Chicago but I spent a lot of time in the Netherlands when I was little.
Why did you decide to enroll at Webster Leiden?
My parents both went to Leiden University. I figured it would be cool to study in the same place they did when they were younger. Webster Leiden stood out to me because it’s an American university that’s very international. I’m also a transfer student. I was able to use credits from my classes at a school in America. They transferred over very easily.
Have you had any favorite classes or professors?
I really liked my global security class. It was very interesting and taught by Professor Marije Balt. We took various field trips to the Hague, which is great for IR students because the city has a lot of international organizations to learn from and about. Actually going to these places instead of just learning about them in a textbook was great. Business wise, Business Technologies was an interesting class. I was able to learn a lot about some of the opportunities there are to use futuristic technologies in businesses.
Which student organizations have you been involved with?
Yeah, I’m the current president of Green Web, which is the environmental club. We’ve
done a lot of work with the school to get funding for various projects. We were able
to put recycling bins in all of the rooms here and we’ve hosted a lot of events to
raise awareness and promote sustainability. We recently did Earth Week and Meatless
Monday. We also organized an event where students could donate or trade clothing.
I’m also on the soccer team and we just went to Vienna to play in a mini-tournament.
It was a great trip that gave me the opportunity to meet students from the other
Webster campuses. I participate in the Business Club and I’m in the LEADS program,
which covers leadership development. We’ll be going to Italy soon.
What are your plans for the future?
I think I want to go to grad school at a Dutch university here, actually. I’m looking into internships right now and I just heard that I was accepted for one in Malaysia. I might go there. Eventually though, my dream job would be to work for the ILO, the International Labor Organization. I’d like to focus on job creation for young people and boosting local economies. I want to use my business and IR skills together to do something like that.
Text: Brandon Hartley