Health sciences major Emily Lyons ’26 explains why asking specific questions and building relationships with the people they meet during their college search can help students when deciding what’s important to them when choosing a college.
When I started looking at colleges, I knew I wanted a place with strong STEM programs with research opportunities for undergraduate students, a green campus that wasn’t broken up by city streets, and students who enjoyed being there. I spruced up those wishes with more details for interviews and applications, but those broad bullet points were all I’d decided on.
If I could talk to my past self, I would get more specific. What makes a STEM program strong, other than rankings? What types of labs would I want to work in? Big, small, under a chemical hood, outside, all year, or just over the summer? What was it about a green campus that appealed to me? What programs and structures did different schools have in place that made differences in student well-being? Which of those would make the biggest difference for me?
Gettysburg College began to answer a lot of those questions before I even formed them in my own head—and I was lucky for that. As I read online and took tours, I heard about the Cross-Disciplinary Science Institute (X-SIG) summer research program, the small class sizes, and that 98% of students were employed or in grad school a year after graduating. I logged all those bits of information away in the back of my mind with intrigue.
I don’t remember much about the blur of getting into—and sometimes rejected from—colleges, but I do remember the people I spoke to at Gettysburg.
Most of all, I remember speaking to Andy Hughes, who would later become my boss at the Garthwait Leadership Center (GLC). I remember him asking questions about my interests and goals with a genuine curiosity. I told him about my interests in hiking and backpacking, and he told me about the GLC’s outdoor group development programming.
I soon whittled down my preferences to Gettysburg and one other school. As I clicked the button to make the final commitment decision an hour before it was due, that conversation with Andy was hovering in the back of my mind.
I made my decision on a gut sense, and I’m glad I did, but I had no idea at the time how many concrete factors had contributed to my positive impression of the place. There are lovely people to be found everywhere, but the structure of a college plays a huge role in the way you build relationships with them.
I signed up for the Group Facilitation Fellowship at the GLC during the first semester of my first year and got hired as a staff member a few months later. Working at a job where everyone present chose to be there because they were interested in building interpersonal skills, and spending time outside has helped me build so many meaningful friendships.
Last summer, I worked in Health Sciences Prof. Megan Benka-Coker’s lab, studying the effects of biogas used as cook stove fuel on human health, which was a fantastic experience. Prof. Benka-Coker knew I also had an interest in clinical health and helped me get involved that same summer in designing a trauma-informed pregnancy care program at Gettysburg’s WellSpan clinic. That experience in maternal health care led me to my current internship in Berlin, Germany, at a fertility care company called Fyrce Care.
Best of all, I’ve been able to have these professional experiences alongside backpacking trips, Peer Learning Assistant jobs, volunteer work with Alpha Phi Omega (APO), the climbing club, and a million more adventures. My schedule was built with the expectation that I’d participate in co-curriculars and the understanding that they’d be a hugely valuable part of the college experience.
If I were to give one piece of advice to parents for the college decision process, it would be to help your student get specific with questions and then empower them to go with their gut. I feel incredibly lucky to be at a place that supports me in building many meaningful relationships and consistently pushes me toward opportunities.
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By Emily Lyons ’26
Main photo by Abbey Frisco; supporting photos by Emily Lyons ’26
Posted: 06/27/25