In October 2020, Lyndsey Nedrow ’23 achieved the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America—an Eagle Scout. It was a historic accomplishment, given that Nedrow was one of the first women in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to earn the prestigious honor.
Today, the psychology major is applying her leadership skills on campus and leveraging what she learned with her troops to meaningfully contribute to the Gettysburg College community.
“Well, with college, you don’t have to make a fire or whittle sticks,” Nedrow said with a laugh. “But scouting has done an amazing job teaching me leadership and communications skills, which I apply every day in my activities and classes on campus—especially when planning and coordinating events for all of the clubs that I’ve been involved in since my first year. Scouting has made me who I am and it’s been the source of a lot of my confidence and leadership.”
On campus, Nedrow has served as the social chair of the Ultimate Frisbee Club; a member of Spark Notes, one of Gettysburg College’s four distinct a cappella groups; a lifeguard at the Jaeger Center; and an active participant in Big Brothers Big Sisters. The trailblazer is also a member of Alpha Phi Omega (APO), a service fraternity whose roots come from the Boy Scouts of America.
“A lot of their values and traditions are similar to what I grew up with,” said Nedrow, citing APO’s core values of leadership development, friendship, and service.
Now at the midway point of her undergraduate career, Nedrow feels Gettysburg College has prepared her to make a positive difference in the world—and the education she’s received is not only thanks to our dedicated faculty, but her classmates as well.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was grateful to have lived in the Education House on campus, recognizing just how instrumental a community that supports and believes in you can be to a student’s academic and professional development, particularly when confronting considerable challenges in life.
“It was a beautiful community of people who I can now call my family,” Nedrow said. “I chose to stay on campus because of the people. I knew I’d still be able to make the most of my college experience. It was a great semester, despite everything, because I had my friends here with me.”
How Gettysburg College inspires involvement
As an Eagle Scout, Nedrow planned to pursue a service project, originally at the Painted Turtle Farm on campus, but she then shifted courses when classes went remote last fall. She decided to create a new project entitled Storytime, where Nedrow asked her friends to film videos of themselves telling the stories they loved to hear as children before bedtime.
“I posted the videos to the website for elementary kids who were stuck at home amid the pandemic, since they didn’t have as many school instructors as they do now,” she said.
The project sought to promote education and entertainment for children through reading, while families in the United States and the world were more isolated due to the prevalence of COVID-19. Nedrow reached out to elementary schools around her neighborhood directing them to her website, envisioning the videos would inspire hope and provide comfort for children.
Upon returning to campus for the spring, Nedrow was thankful for the community she found at Gettysburg College.
“The campus was a little quiet at first, but the people I used to live with became really close friends of mine, so that was what created the community that I have now,” Nedrow said. “Even though the semester did not have as many traditional events as other years, it was still a great experience. I was living in a single room for health and safety reasons, but there would always be someone’s door I could knock on or someone I could say hello to. That’s the kind of community we have here.”
By Boba (Ngoc) Pham ’21
Photos courtesy of Lyndsey Nedrow ’23
Posted: 12/14/21
