Lauren D. Lewis '06 takes readers on a tour of her favorite parts of Boston, Mass.
Washington, D.C., native Lauren D. Lewis is a self-described city girl. Born in the nation’s capital with detours to Atlanta and Miami, her current stint in the Cradle of Liberty is her third. She works for the Advent School as the director of enrollment management.
After earning her bachelor’s in sociology at TU in 2006, Lewis became a social worker with a variety of constituents: truant high school students, HIV/AIDS patients and nursing home residents. When she needed a change, her stepmother, who also works in independent schools admissions, suggested Lewis return to her alma mater, the Barrie School in Silver Spring, Maryland.
“I started as an admission administrative assistant, and I haven’t looked back,” she says. “It’s been an amazing journey. It’s 16 years and eight schools in. I thought it was going to be a two-year stint and then do something else. (Since the Barrie School position) I’ve worked at independent schools, boarding and day schools, and pre-K through 12th grade.”
“ Boston is what you make it. If you want a city lifestyle but you also want to be immersed in nature and culture and history, then definitely visit. ”
While her heart belongs in the South End, Lewis now lives in the suburb of Quincy.
“Boston is a walkable city. I can go in one direction, and I can go into Southie. I can go in another direction and go into the downtown area to Beacon Hill,” she says. “In Quincy, you need a car. I would say it’s a little bit more laid back in the South Shore area. Boston is a little bit more upbeat, fast paced.”
Lewis lauds the city’s history, culture, food and diversity and takes visitors to places that embody those attributes.
“I like to go to the Yellow Door Taqueria and get sweet and spicy wings with a spicy passion fruit margarita with a spicy rim,” she says. “The new-ish MLK statue called The Embrace is in the Boston Common, and nearby Copley Plaza and Newberry Street are great for shopping. For hiking, the Blue Hills Reservation state park gives you nature within the city. The Seaport has great food and shopping. And if you want to go into the ocean, there’s the South Shore, the North Shore or Cape Cod.”
Lewis advises visitors to dive as deeply into the city as they desire. And to make sure they visit when the weather is nice.
“Boston is what you make it. If you want a city lifestyle but you also want to be immersed in nature and culture and history, then definitely visit,” she says. “I feel like Boston really comes alive in the summer and early fall—that’s the time to get a 360-degree view of the city.”
