Laura Scruggs

 Volunteer Maryland Coordinator

I recently started in the Volunteer Maryland Coordinator position here at the Ulman Cancer Fund and will be working on creating and expanding the Young Adult Cancer Support (YACS) group on university campuses around the Baltimore area.  I recently graduated from the University of Delaware, where I played softball and studied Political Science and Spanish.  As a college student, I became invoved in non-profit work with an immigration counseling center and with the International Rescue Committee in Highlandtown.  Also, at the beginning of senior year, I co-founded Visions for Haiti, an organization that seeks to bring Haitian college students to American universities.  I grew up in Baltimore and have spent my summers in Bethany Beach, Delaware.  I have one very talented younger sister that is a sophomore at Rhode Island School of Design and wants to be an animator.  In the future, I hope to get a master's degree in international development and to continue working in the non-profit world.

1) HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INVOLVED WITH UCF?

I first became involved with UCF while volunteering for the Celebration Triathlon in Columbia, MD during the summer of 2011.  My mother has been an active volunteer for UCF events for the past couple of years with Kelly Lance, and had heard about how great the organization was from Katrina McGowan, our neighbor and family friend.  I decided to take a year off between undergrad and graduate school, and was looking for an opportunity to do some good before reentering the academic world.  The Volunteer Maryland Coordinator position at UCF was the perfect fit!

 
2)  OUTSIDE OF WORKING AT UCF, WHAT’S YOUR DREAM JOB?

Eventually, I would like to be able to work for an international non-profit or NGO – preferably one that allows me to put 10 years of studying Spanish to good use.  Of course, this would take place while also being a part-time movie star, DJ, and dolphin trainer at Sea World.   

 3) WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT WORKING AT UCF?

So far, my favorite moment was meeting Elizabeth, our Patient Navigator, at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center and being able to see where the UCF is making a real, positive difference in people’s lives.  I know that if I was facing something as trying as a cancer, I would be so grateful for the connections and support that the UCF facilitates there.

 4) WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU’RE NOT WORKING?

When I’m not working, I’m training for road races, visiting my lucky friends that are still in college, watching the Washington Redskins (a complicated relationship, to say the least), or going to the beach!