Mega-legacies: multi-generational students share their experiences

Freshman year, most Lehigh students arrive on campus as the first members of their families to call themselves Mountain Hawks. These students have the opportunity to bring Lehigh stories home for the first time.

A smaller number of Lehigh students, however, have had the essence of Lehigh passed down through multiple generations reminiscing on their college experience.

“As far as I know, I’m the 13^th person (in my family) to be here,” Stephen Goelz, ’19, said.

Goelz, Katie Emery, ’18, and Shannon Beattie, ’19, are Lehigh legacies with family alumni dating back to their grandparents’ generation and extending into aunts, uncles and parents.

And while they all have family history deeply rooted at Lehigh, none of them said they felt pressured to attend the university.

Emery, who is the ninth member of her family to attend Lehigh, was drawn to Lehigh during her college search because of the level of familiarity it provided. Emery grew up attending Lehigh football games with her family.

“I remember . . . my brother and I being little and coming to one of the football games and rolling down the hills with my cousin, Tom,” Emery said. “That’s just the first thing I remember from Lehigh.”

Emery’s brother was a senior at Lehigh when she entered her freshman year, which was an added comfort factor when she officially decided to attend the university.

Unlike Emery, Goelz didn’t first visit campus until his sister was at Lehigh as a graduate student coaching field hockey.

He said his parents, who met during their freshman year, never pressured him to attend Lehigh, but because of his interest in studying engineering, it remained on his radar during his college search.

“My parents were really on top of me to come and get a tour, and that’s when I fell in love with the school,” Goelz said. “Seeing where they spent a lot of their time and the way it’s changed has been really interesting.”

Beattie said she has attended every single Lehigh-Lafayette football game in her lifetime because her dad played on the football team. But her family history didn’t draw her to Lehigh at first. She looked at Lehigh during her college search because she knew it was a good school, but she was originally more interested in larger schools.

“Everyone in my family would ask about Lehigh obviously, and I would always be like, ‘No, I don’t want to go where everyone else did,’” said Beattie, who is the 10^th person in her family to attend Lehigh.

When Beattie eventually decided to attend Lehigh, her family members took the opportunity to tease her about not wanting to follow the family tradition at first.

Like her, several of Emery’s family members were members of Greek life at Lehigh. She said her family likes exchanging stories about their experiences and finding out how much has changed over the years.

“It’s just funny to hear how Lehigh has changed so much, and we all share,” Emery said.
“We just understand it I guess.”

Goelz, his dad and two uncles have all been members of Greek life. He, too, has heard stories about the stark differences between Greek life today and Greek life during his dad’s generation.

Aside from parties being on the Hill as opposed to off campus, Goelz said the biggest difference his dad and uncles talk about is how The Brown and White used to write about parties planned for the coming weekend.

“Also, the whole Greek system and social hierarchy didn’t really exist back then,” Goelz said. “It was just like 30 houses of guys that liked each other, and there wasn’t so much competition.”

Beattie said she and her mom have had different Lehigh experiences.

“She played basketball, and I’m in a sorority and she doesn’t totally get that,” Beattie said. “But, I think it’s kind of cool because it’s different experiences at the same school.”

Goelz said his parents continue to visit him about once a month and will show him their favorite places from when they were students. They also like to visit for football games since many of Goelz’s fraternity brothers are on the team.

Emery said her grandpa still comes to nearly every home football game, and she’ll go to his tailgates if she’s also at the game. Her family members that live close by often visit, too.

“My dad loves dropping me off and picking me up because he loves Lehigh so much,” Emery said.

Beattie’s parents will visit her occasionally, she said, but because they know the university so well and know she is safe here, they don’t visit “randomly.”