Dear Dickinson Student Body,

It is unfortunate that I speak to you for the first time under these circumstances. Like most of you, the death of my sister has come as a shock. As I write this, I know very little about the details surrounding my sister’s death. What I do know is that she was in a community she grew to love. I will be honest, her first term at Dickinson was not kind to her. However, as evidenced by the memorial, the community reciprocated that love. Just as you support me and my family through these trying times, my family and I are here for you as well. Her family in Carlisle is just as important as my own, we just had a head start.

To me you all were her siblings when I was away, and I cannot impress upon you how much that means to me. This last year, you as a community have conversed with her more than I have, and that is a burden that I alone will carry for the rest of my life.

To those who knew Lauren intimately, to those who did not; on behalf of my family, thank you for your collective hospitality and support.

I remember the times my sister and I fought (and I lost), the LEGOs we built, and the times I drove her to school. You as individuals and as a community have your own memories of her, cherish them, but I urge you to let her go.

These next few weeks, months, or years will be hard for all of us, but as my sister would say ‘it’s just another thing’. However, I will leave you with this, “what we do in life, echoes in eternity.”  Once we leave college we start to create a legacy. If I am not asking too much, I press you to honor her with your legacy, just as I will with mine.

With love,
Aaron Lau