Edit desk: Being the ‘Golden Girl’

Growing up, many of my teachers, family, friends and peers referred to me as the “Golden Girl.”

I performed well academically, fostered deep connections with my family and friends and was involved in every club and sport I could make time for. I was quite comfortable being a big fish in a little pond. 

When I arrived at Lehigh, it was a rude awakening to find that it was a school full of other Golden Girls and Boys. Everyone around me was smart, involved and seemed to have backstories more exciting than mine. I was no longer the top of my class or the go-to group leader. Full disclosure: I really struggled with this. 

For the entirety of my first semester, I felt as though my golden glow dimmed with each new challenge. I wanted nothing more than to return to the comfort of my little K-12 school back home. Was this really what college was supposed to be like? 

Upon returning to campus after winter break, I presented myself with two options: portray an image of someone who loved college while simultaneously feeling sorry for myself, or pick myself up and find the once golden version of myself. 

I am lucky enough to say that I was successful in the latter. 

To my own surprise, the push I needed was Greek life. I joined a sorority during my second semester, where I felt a sense of community — one that I did not know existed at Lehigh. With encouragement from my new friends, I decided to run for a leadership position. 

I suddenly found myself immersed in something larger than just “becoming a sorority girl.” I joined clubs I did not even know existed, found service opportunities that helped me feel closer to the Bethlehem community and had familiar faces to smile at when I saw them around campus. I felt like the Golden Girl again. 

A year later, the same group of people encouraged me to serve as the chapter’s president. 

Being a leader immediately following the “Greek pause” and amidst a global pandemic was no easy feat. Yet the women I worked alongside that year inspired me with their resilience and dedication to make sure I was never facing a challenge alone. My executive council “dream team” probably has no idea of the miracles they worked on me as a leader and a person overall. 

As a senior, I have minimal chapter leadership responsibilities and I am no longer “in charge” of anything. Even so, I am content knowing that I have found my people and my place at Lehigh. 

I am, admittedly, terrified to enter the real world in just a few months, where I know I will be an even smaller fish in a seemingly boundless pond—where an even bigger adjustment is inherently coming. 

However, I also know that I am capable of handling this adjustment. I have a strong academic foundation from my time at Lehigh, I have the confidence to hold my own in a new environment and I have a support network that I know I can fall back on if (and more realistically, when) I need it. 

For anyone who might be feeling their golden glow dim due to a recent school, job or life change, know that it is completely normal to deal with a period of adjustment. There is no timeline on how or when you will find your place in your new situation. The journey to finding that place often leads to experiences and connections you might not have expected. 

You do not need to be the top of your class, the leader of every group or the best at your sport. You just need to find the people, places and things that make you feel golden.