New College Counselor Robin Lau Is Here to Make a Difference

Robin Lau says that her father has consistently given her the same piece of advice: “Make yourself happy, make people around you happy, and make a difference.” As Athenian’s newest college counselor, Robin is hoping to achieve these goals as she helps students navigate the stressful and challenging college selection and application process.

Prior to joining the Athenian community, Robin worked as a college counselor both in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, but it wasn’t a direct journey. Thinking she would be a doctor like her siblings, Robin said, “I was sort of a late bloomer in a lot of ways when it comes to just being aware of what I wanted to do. I started out in college thinking that I was going to be pre-med because that's what my older siblings did. And then I realized really that it wasn't my pathway and that I can't stand the sight of blood.”

Robin went to law school instead and began working in the legal field before realizing it also wasn’t her calling, and she wanted to help people in a different way.

Robin now works with students, helps them plan for their future, and uses her own experience and journey to highlight the importance of patience and flexibility. “I think that a lot of people have a really circuitous pathway when it comes to finding their place and finding their career. And I think that's really normal,” she said.

Helping students think more broadly about all of their options is central to her work at Athenian. Vivian Wu, a junior who recently began working with Robin on the college application process said, “She really seems to care about me and my goals in life. She tells us to take everything that we do step-by-step so we’re not looking at the whole scope in one go. She lets me know that the college that I go to is just the start and it’s what I make of the experience that is really going to make a difference.”

Amitis Rouhani, a senior who has completed applications and is awaiting admission decisions, said, “She’s helped me get out of my comfort zone when it came to researching and even trying to become more familiar with the whole college process, because at first I was very scared and hesitant.”

One piece of advice Amitis received was about patience. She said that Robin told her, “Don’t get carried away and discouraged by what other people are saying or doing: it’s not a race, to go at my own pace and to not feel bad just because my approach and ways are different than other students.”

            Mark van Warmerdam, Co-director of College Counseling, who was involved in Robin's hiring process, said “As an office, we really try to collaborate a lot as a team. [She’s] thoughtful, kind, organized, is curious about how we do things in Athenian and learning the environment, the culture here, and the policies, but also brings in ideas and perspectives from the other places and experiences that she has to help us look at how we do things.” In describing what Robin brings to the community, Mark said, “She’s able to build trust with students in order to have conversations, inspire them, encourage them along the way, and be very positive, but also in a way that challenges them.”

Robin’s own pursuit of a career in education was greatly inspired by her middle school teacher in Ohio, which, she said, “wasn't the most ethnically diverse place to grow up in. I was often one of a few students of color at school and I remember that one teacher.” Her teacher was one of the few Asian women. “I just ended up thinking about her and how she was acting at school and how supportive she was of people around her. It was a way for me to see that, oh, there are people who are like me working in education, which is something that I had never been exposed to before,” she said.

Outside of school, Robin enjoys eating good food with her husband, as well as spending time with her springer spaniel Banjo and cat Bon Bon, who, as Robin puts it, “coexist.” Another hobby of hers is running, which allows her to find calm amidst her busy life. “I tend to have a really, really active mind, you know. It's just I have a lot at all times, but running really helps me quiet my mind,” she said. In addition to running, Robin enjoys spending time outdoors, and said, “I just – I love the outdoors and I found it really calming and it feels really good to feel small, which nature is so good at providing.”

The self-awareness she brings to her own life is something she tries to teach to the students she works with. “Self-awareness is the most key piece. It's understanding those big questions about yourself. So what do I care about? What's something that really makes me feel some kind of way, right? And then I think that another piece of it is, what am I good at? You define and redefine that for yourself with every new place, every new day,” Robin said.