She may have been your Residential Advisor (RA), you may have seen her dance in Kalalu, or she may have yelled at you at Senior Ball (as captain of Event Staff, of course), but do you know the real LaShawn Springer? Do you know about her marriage on Foss Hill? Her days as a ballerina? Her psychic abilities? Read on to find out all about this and more, plus why some people may just be calling her the next Lorraine Elmhurst.
ANNALEE: As a Senior Interviewer, you’re probably used to being on the other side of the interview. How do you feel about being interviewed?
LASHAWN: [Laughs] I’m a little nervous, I won’t lie.
A: It’s okay, this’ll be great. I was wondering if you had any good stories involving interviews, if you’re at liberty to say. Or is that top secret?
L: I don’t know if I’m at liberty to say…but …it’s an interesting job.
A: Do you like it?
L: Um, I like it. It’s not…totally what I expected it to be. Not necessarily totally in a bad way, but it’s just really disappointing sometimes to see that, you know, we don’t get many students of color who will come interview, people from lower socioeconomic statuses that come interview. I mean there’re all sorts of reasons for those things. But, yeah, it’d be nice to see a more diverse group of people come interview with us.
A: Besides being a Senior Interviewer and an RA, you also do a lot of dancing, I hear. What groups are you in?
L: I’m currently in Kalalu, which is the West Indian dance group. I’m one of the co-chairs along with Betsy Souffrant [’08]. I used to be a part of Isis, which is the women of color group on campus, but I’m not as graceful as them, so I had to take an exit from that group [laughs].
A: For how many years have you been dancing?
L: I only started dancing really when I got to Wesleyan…I tried to do ballet when I was in third grade, and I got kicked out of dance class [laughs].
A: I heard you went to Senior Cocktails as Lorraine Elmhurst. Why did you go as her? Wait…who is she?
L: [Laughs really loudly] Well, I’m not creative at all—I don’t have any creative bones in my body. So I didn’t have a costume for cocktails…so I was getting dressed with Jill [White ’08] and Tala [Bouzajomehri ’08], and I asked them, “Give me a name that sounds famous,” and they thought of “Lorraine.” Then I said, “Okay, give me a last name.” And Jill looked at a map in her room and she goes, “Elmhurst.” So we told people all night that I was Lorraine Elmhurst, a famous civil rights activist. And people were like, “Who?” And I was like, “Come on! You know, Lorraine Elmhurst! Go pick up a textbook, gosh!”
A: A lot of people know you and a lot of things about you, but what were you like as a child?
L: My mommy says I was a social butterfly. I was really nice. I wasn’t really mischievous.
A: If I were to ask your five-year-old self, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” what would you have said?
L: I used to say, “I wanna be a lover and a fighter and a knock ‘er, knock ‘er out.”
A: Oh my gosh, so profound for a five-year-old. Where did you get that?
L: I really have no idea, but…I used to sing it all the time [sings and dances along]. I was so cheesy as a child [laughs]!
A: So now, where do you see yourself in 20 years?
L: Well, I’m applying to law school because I wanna be a civil rights lawyer. So I see myself hopefully making some change somewhere. But, I mean, I plan on being married at 28 [smiles]. So I’ll be married and have a couple children. I just hope to be really happy, you know, I don’t need to be rich and have money. I feel stupid every time I say I wanna make a change, but that’s where my heart is—making changes.
A: This marrying at 28, do you have a special plan for this?
L: So, the plan is to get married at 28 and have my wedding on Foss Hill, under a tent catered by Aramark, who’s no longer here. I did make up preliminary invitations…They’re on napkins, so they’re not too official…
A: What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?
L: I think I’m pretty much an open book, I don’t know if I have any secrets. Like, I will say everything to people.
A: No secret talents?
L: Here’s a thing, lately I get vibes…people don’t believe me, but I do. I’ve been having these dreams that have been coming true.
A: Really?
L: Yes. And I think there’s something to it. I always knew that deep inside there was some psychic abilities in me, but, this is really…
A: A prophet, perhaps? Wow, that’s freaky. If you could have any super power, what would you have?
L: I would like the power to change people’s hearts and minds.
A: Awww, that’s a really nice superpower. If you were stranded on a desert island, what three items would you bring with you?
L: I would bring my teddy bear, I’d bring a scarf—just so I could change up my look—and I would bring my photo album.
A: The holiday season is coming up. If you could have any one thing in the world, what would be the number one gift on your wish list?
L: An automatic admittance to any law school I would like to go to [smiles]. No, that’s so selfish. Um, the number one gift, I would like…I would get a house for my sisters, for each of them and their children.
A: If the story of your life were made into a movie, who would play you and what would be the name of the film?
L: I would let Rashida [Richardson ’08] play me and the title of the film…oy…I feel like I’ve thought about this, like I’ve dreamed of having my own TV show for the longest. I guess I should have thought of a name. Um, I would call it…“The Journey.”
A: Finally, what would you like your Wesleyan legacy to be—if there was a building named after you, what would you like the plaque to say?
L: Hmm, the plaque would say that I tried my hardest to make Wesleyan a better place, not necessarily for me, but for the people that will come here after me. And I did it very unapologetically, despite all of the craziness and the hate and the reluctance that I got from people…that never stopped me.
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