Miller, Abdur-Rahman named Mr. and Ms. GT at Homecoming

Overwhelmed with joy just after being named Ms. Georgia Tech during halftime of the Tech/Army homecoming game, Lauren Miller began to cry, but it was when her friend Luqman Abdur-Rahman was named Mr. Georgia Tech that the tears really started flowing.

"It definitely meant a lot to have someone that I knew personally and that I felt was extremely deserving of the honor to get it with me. It just made the moment extra special," Miller said.

Abdur-Rahman felt the same way.

"Just to be recognized with someone of [Miller's] caliber is very humbling. That was an honor in itself," Abdur-Rahman said.

Students entered their votes throughout the week after the semifinalists were selected after an application and interview process, with the winners of the voting announced during halftime and taking the ceremonial ride around the field in the Ramblin' Wreck.

Both Miller and Abdur-Rahman were sponsored by the African American Student Union.

Miller is a fourth-year Management major from Fairburn, GA. She is involved with numerous campus organizations, including serving as a captain of the GT Dance Team, president of the National Panhellenic Council, and honorary chair of Hands On Atlanta, a community service organization, as well as the founder of BOPSOP, a youth mentoring organization.

Upon graduating in the spring, she hopes to continue to graduate school either at Harvard, Stanford or Columbia to pursue an MBA as well as a doctorate in educational leadership.

"I've always been passionate about working with children. I don't think we as a society invest as much in our children as we need to. To me it's obvious that lots of our children are falling through the cracks and nobody's doing anything about it.... If we don't invest in our children then our society is going to be nothing in the future," Miller said.

Aside from graduate school, she says she is going to audition in the spring for some Broadway plays.

Abdur-Rahman, who is from Decatur, GA, is currently pursuing a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA, and plans to graduate in December. He graduated from Tech with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering in Spring 2005 and began graduate studies that fall.

He is the president emeritus of the African American Student Union and serves on the President's Council Governing Board. He also spends a lot of his time with volunteer projects in the Vine City area near the Georgia Dome, including after-school and summer school programs and coaching youth soccer.

He is currently interviewing with companies and hopes to start a career that will help him develop leadership skills that will allow him to pursue his long-term goals. Like Miller he sees education as an area in desperate need of improvement.

"Engineering is all about problem solving and I think we have a problem with education right now.... I want to offer an opportunity to not only make [science, technology, and engineering] relevant and get more kids in [those fields], but just to make learning more enjoyable and more relevant," Abdur-Rahman said.

"My nonprofit work is helping me a lot. I get so much back from that, and it encourages me to go to school and do those things so I can provide an opportunity to do hopefully some kind of nonprofit work in educational reform," Abdur-Rahman said.