Standing before a gymnasium filled with graduating Normandy High School seniors and their families, Lauren Bowers had a simple message to share:
Success isn’t always a straight line.
It’s a lesson she knows firsthand.
On June 2, Bowers returned to a Viking Advantage celebration honoring this year’s graduating seniors—students preparing to attend colleges and universities, pursue careers in the skilled trades, enter nursing programs, or serve in the military. Just a few years earlier, she had been sitting in the same room as a Viking Advantage student herself.
“I was literally in this exact same space when I graduated high school at this same type of ceremony,” Bowers told the audience.
Today, she returns with a remarkable accomplishment of her own. This spring, Bowers graduated from the Saint Louis University School of Law, becoming just the second participant in the history of the Viking Advantage program to earn a Juris Doctor degree.
For Bowers, the journey began long before law school.
A 2017 graduate of Normandy High School, she developed an early interest in the legal profession through advanced placement courses in criminology and juvenile justice at Normandy, made possible by the Dual Enrollment program at St. Louis Community College.
Through Viking Advantage, she received guidance navigating the FAFSA process, participated in college tours, and gained experiences that helped her imagine a future beyond high school.
“I think representation is very important,” she told graduates. “Having the opportunity to visit the campus is important because then you can begin to visualize yourself there.”
After high school, Bowers attended the University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL), where she majored in Criminology and Criminal Justice with a minor in Political Science. She graduated cum laude and earned a certificate through the Pierre Laclede Honors College.
Through UMSL’s Federal Work-Study Program, Bowers was able to earn income at Beyond Housing’s off-campus work-study office, while balancing classes and building professional experience.
Success is consistency over time
At the time, she believed she had everything mapped out.
“I had my six-year plan mapped out in my mind,” she said. “Three years at UMSL and then three years in law school.”
Life had other plans.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted her path. As a young mother supporting her daughter, Bowers stepped away from school and took a job in retail. While grateful for the opportunity to provide for her family, she knew it wasn’t where she wanted her story to end.
The experience reinforced something she now shares with students whenever she has the chance.
“There will be obstacles that come along the way,” she said. “Success isn’t always a straight line.”
Determined to continue pursuing her goals, Bowers completed her undergraduate degree in 2021. After graduation, she returned to Normandy High School as a college advisor through the Missouri College Advising Corps, an AmeriCorps program headquartered at the University of Missouri that places recent college graduates as full-time “near-peer” advisers in underserved high schools across Missouri. Encouraging students to pursue higher education also renewed her own determination to follow a dream she had held since she was 16 years old: becoming a lawyer.
Once again, Viking Advantage helped make that dream possible.
The program covered the cost of an LSAT preparation course and exam expenses—support that Bowers credits with helping her earn a scholarship worth approximately $120,000 to attend Saint Louis University School of Law.
“That $1,000 from this program empowered me to earn thousands going forward to get my J.D.,” she told graduates.
Two graduations and a new job as Assistant Attorney General
This spring, Bowers crossed the stage to receive her law degree. One week later, her six-year-old daughter crossed a stage of her own, graduating from kindergarten.
Bowers also has another reason to celebrate: she will soon begin her career as an Assistant Attorney General in the Consumer Protection Division at the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.
For Bowers, this moment is the culmination of years of persistence, hard work, and support from people who believed in her potential, including Beyond Housing College Access Program Manager James Moyamba, additional Beyond Housing staff, and CEO Chris Krehmeyer.
And it was why she wanted to return to speak with the next generation of Viking Advantage students.
As graduates prepare for their own journeys beyond high school, Bowers encouraged them to keep moving forward even when the path becomes difficult or uncertain.
“You don’t need to have everything mapped out,” she said. “It might not turn out how you think it will initially, but ultimately, I think success is driven by consistency over time.”
For the students gathered in the gymnasium that evening, the message carried extra weight. It came from someone who once sat exactly where they were sitting—and who returned to show them what is possible.
Since 2010, Viking Advantage has produced 151 undergraduate degrees, 19 master’s degrees, 1 medical degree, and 2 law degrees, for a total of 173 degrees earned.
