Campus Official to Serve As Judge on Reality Show

Having been promised that there would be no worm-eating, UC Berkeley outreach officer Marquesa Lawrence auditioned for and accepted the role of a judge on ABC's new reality series "The Scholar," set to premiere June 6.

The show will feature ten high school seniors from underprivileged backgrounds competing for a full scholarship to any university that they are admitted to.

As a judge, Lawrence analyzed and critiqued the contestants, who lived together in a house over a two-week filming period in February.

The show was filmed at the University of Southern California.

"A co-worker and I went in to audition," Lawrence said. "There were two college applications and we had to debate on which student was more qualified to be on ‘The Scholar.' Someone called a few days later and said ‘Okay, you're on the show.'"

Lawrence said she was surprised by the down-to-earth environment of the show.

"It wasn't cheesy," she said. "(The students) were all deserving in some form or fashion. It wasn't millionaires getting half a million dollars to go to school."

Lawrence said filming the show, which was promoted as an "unscripted drama" to the participants, was like an "out-of-body experience."

"After it was over, we had dinner with (Producer) Jon Murray, and I'm sitting there thinking, ‘That's the guy who does Real World!' It didn't really hit me until it was all over," she said.

As one of three UC Berkeley Student Affairs officers stationed in southern California, Lawrence's duties include hosting admissions workshops for prospective students and parents, reading freshmen applications and editing personal statements.

Lawrence said the show's format of challenges, quizzes and interviews accurately represents what colleges are looking for in applicants.

An admissions officer since 1996, Lawrence said she originally intended to join the Marines after high school instead of going to college.

"I don't know why I wanted to join the Marines. I thought my grades weren't good enough. I basically only applied (to UC Santa Barbara) because my sister was already there," she said.

Lawrence called her position at UC Berkeley her "dream job."

"It really changes people's lives," she said. "Kids who would never dream of applying to college, let alone Berkeley, have the opportunity to explore that. It's like giving birth all the time."

Lawrence said she agreed to appear on the show because she appreciated the show's concept of giving deserving students the chance of a full scholarship.

"What I got from the students was that they all had dreams," Lawrence said. "Their circumstances may have prevented them, but they kept on dreaming big."

Lawrence and the other judges were restricted in their interaction with contestants. The judges were forbidden from entering the students' house or speaking to students off-camera.

"We were very sequestered from them, like people would check the bathrooms to make sure. We could barely say ‘good morning.' That was very hard," she said.

Lawrence has not seen the six edited episodes of the show yet, either.

"I don't even know how I look on TV," she said.

Though Lawrence is not allowed to reveal the show's outcome before it airs next month, she was able to deliver what she says is the show's message.

"Always go for what you want, regardless of your current circumstances," she said.

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