Whether it\u2019s for practices, meetings or volunteer shifts, Roisin Gaffney, \u201827, walks around campus with a smile and a sense of purpose.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As an Orientation Leader, Soaring Together Scholar, Peer Health Advisor and a member of several other organizations, Gaffney has made being involved on campus her way to feel at home while away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Originally from San Francisco, Gaffney \u2014 a finance and management consulting double major \u2014 chose Lehigh for its range of opportunities and a welcoming community that encouraged her to get involved.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, the transition wasn\u2019t seamless.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing so far from home, I did have a hard time initially adjusting to college,\u201d Gaffney said. \u201cI was a bit homesick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon after arriving, Gaffney joined the club rugby team despite never having played before. The small, tight-knit group quickly became a community that helped her form close connections and feel at home.<\/p>\n
Katie Carlson, \u201826, a member of the team, grew close to Gaffney after she joined. Carlson said their connection formed quickly on the field, and before long, they were jokingly calling themselves a \u201cdynamic duo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a very similar sense of humor, so we got along with each other off the bat,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cShe\u2019s been a really good friend to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carlson said their friendship strengthened through shared challenges, long practices and the support of the team, creating a bond that has lasted beyond their first season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0Gaffney has also served as an Orientation Leader where she was a steady, friendly face for incoming students and fellow leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matthew Schafer, \u201827, worked closely with Gaffney during leader training.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said the experience can be intimidating with over 100 people involved. He said Gaffney, however, didn\u2019t hesitate to step up, put herself out there, answer questions or do dances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Schafer said Gaffney is a strong campus ambassador for the organizations she represents because of her welcoming, energetic personality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can always look to (Gaffney) to bring up the energy or bring up the mood in the room,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s some people that walk into a room and they might suck the energy out of it, or be there passively. (Gaffney) makes an effort to be welcoming and talk to every single person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gaffney said she strives to be an approachable, encouraging presence on campus.<\/p>\n
She said she\u2019s always enjoyed meeting new people and gaining new perspectives.<\/p>\n
Along with taking part in experiential learning opportunities or getting involved on campus, she said she likes to help others and be a friendly face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The summer after her first year, Gaffney participated in the Iacocca International Internship Program, traveling to Uganda to work with a local nongovernmental organization focused on building sustainable livelihoods through education, sports and community development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There, she taught English, helped students learn basic computer and Excel skills, and assisted with fundraising efforts. Outside the classroom, she spent her afternoons coaching soccer and introducing kids to rugby.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gaffney said the experience allowed her to form a lot of close relationships while giving her a new perspective on life. It reminded her how she should be grateful for all of the opportunities given to her<\/p>\n
Traveling to Uganda also motivated her to pursue more global opportunities. The following summer, Gaffney traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland, where she worked with a social enterprise dedicated to supporting small businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a fundraising intern, she reached out to different companies to raise money to give to small businesses in Africa through microloans, extending her work in Uganda.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Balancing academics, leadership roles and global experiences hasn\u2019t been easy, but Gaffney\u2019s learned how to manage it all with an organized Google Calendar and a commitment to communication.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gaffney said it can be challenging to give 100% to every commitment, but she wouldn\u2019t trade her involvement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are definitely some times where I wish I could be more involved with certain things, maybe that I enjoy more or that I haven\u2019t been to in a long time, but I can\u2019t because of my time commitments,\u201d Gaffney said. \u201cHowever, I don\u2019t regret getting involved as much as I do because all of these great relationships and experiences that I had, I wouldn\u2019t have had otherwise.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whether it\u2019s for practices, meetings or volunteer shifts, Roisin Gaffney, \u201827, walks around campus with a smile and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[5877,153,155,154,1197,523],"class_list":["post-38628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-4-minute-read","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-feature","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}