Meet Lauren Arkell! This radiant and remarkable GOTR alumni currently works at Firefly Aerospace as a flight controller on their Mission Operations Team. Learn more about her GOTR alumni journey below!
Before Lauren Arkell began engineering missions through the cosmos, she was discovering her inner strength one lap (and one journal entry) at a time with GOTR.
Most recently, Lauren’s embraced the confidence she built at GOTR to support history-making operations at Firefly Aerospace. Alongside her team, proudly known as the #GhostRiders, Lauren helped engineer the placement of a lunar lander called “Blue Ghost” on the Moon. Thanks to her contributions and conviction, Firefly Aerospace became the first commercial company in history to achieve a fully successful Moon landing.
As proven with the triumph of “Blue Ghost,” Lauren’s journey has landed her in the stars, shining brightly and defying gender stereotypes with the employer of her dreams.
Throughout the long days and countless tests of the past year, she remained resilient and committed to her team. All the vital life skills and confidence she needed to achieve her goal were employed and firing on all cylinders. And it all began with two sneakers on the pavement, a journal, and a team where she felt proud to be her unique self.
Whether cheering on her teammates, gearing up for the big 5K, or reflecting on the day’s lesson, Lauren remembers GOTR as a place where she unlocked confidence. It was where she first discovered the value of courage, compassion, and community, most specifically, girls uplifting girls. In fact, the girl-centered aspect of our evidence-based curriculum was what captured Lauren’s attention in the first place.
“I was very thankful to have a space focused on being active and athletic that was all-girls,” Lauren shared. She also expressed how GOTR showed her the value of having a team that has your back. “At Girls on the Run, you’re put in a group of like-minded girls who share similar values and interests. This was the first instance when people learned to lean on one another, support each other, and run together. It’s also where I built some of my first friendships.”
In addition to the numerous skills, lessons, and perspectives Lauren learned at GOTR, she also imparted a form of self-care that she still utilizes: journaling.
As much as Lauren loved running laps with her friends, her favorite part of GOTR practice was when the team reflected on the day’s lesson and jotted down thoughts in their journals. Lauren shared, “I have journaled ever since my Girls on the Run experience and appreciate the outlet and reflection that journaling offers me daily. This, and all of the other mental health focuses in Girls on the Run are essential.”
After graduating from Davidson College, where she received a scholarship from Girls on the Run New Hampshire, majored in physics, and played D1 lacrosse, Lauren interned at the NASA Glenn Research Center on a project studying the moon’s dust. From there, her path to the “Blue Ghost” mission wasn’t direct, but she stayed determined. She leaned on the resilience and teamwork she developed at GOTR through early career challenges. After landing her first full-time role in Washington, D.C., as a Mission Engineer for a NASA contractor at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Lauren and her new coworkers volunteered at a GOTR 5K Celebration, a full-circle moment that reminded her of the confidence and support GOTR instilled in her at an early age.
Now, living in Austin, Texas, coaching elementary school lacrosse, and excited about her next challenge at Firefly Aerospace, Lauren’s confidence is skyrocketing. Despite her incredible achievements, Lauren hasn’t forgotten where she came from or the impact of GOTR. “I am very thankful for all I learned from Girls on the Run, and I love volunteering and giving back to the program so that more and more young girls can participate,” she explained.
She also has not lost sight of the power of girls uplifting girls, one of her most profound takeaways from Girls of the Run.
In addition, Lauren excitedly expressed why she thinks sharing successes is important for empowering the next generation. Lauren said, “Having strong women role models has the potential to help young girls dream bigger. Sharing alumni stories shows how strong the Girls on the Run community is and how it can and did make a big impression on our lives.”
From her first journal entry to her next lunar mission, Lauren’s journey proves that when girls are given the tools to believe in themselves, there’s no limit to how far they can soar.
