Meet Lauren Rodriguez, first year writer and senior, known by everyone as Lola. Rodriguez joined The Downey Legend staff because her grandfather, who is also a journalist, inspired her to. She looked up to him when she was younger because they are similar in many ways. They both like to write, enjoy history, and dislike the same food, such as ketchup and rice. She also joined because writing is something she feels she is good at. Rodriguez has been published many times in an award-winning anthology, through various writing workshops; she has been involved in this since the 8^th grade.

Rodriguez enjoys politics and campaigning. She also enjoys community service, attending concerts, and taking pictures with her instant camera. She hopes that in the next few years, she will have graduated from a good college, such as Berkley, UCLA, UCSB, or UCSD, and will be working for a newspaper, such as The LA Times, and will be living in her own apartment in Downtown Los Angeles or San Francisco. “It’s like the eyes of the school,” Rodriguez said when asked what she likes about newspaper. “It’s our jobs as writers to find out what’s going on in the school and tell people things they don’t know about.” She hopes that being part of The Downey Legend will give her a newfound confidence in her writing, and she hopes to gain new friends through this experience.