With widespread vaccination making the resumption of campus life possible, the “Getting Back to the Lehigh We Love” series highlights perspectives on what our community most looks forward to. Allie Kirkpatrick ’22, a global studies & anthropology double major & philosophy minor, Student Senate member & former health, safety & wellness committee chair, and Alpha Gamma Delta member, shares.
What activities did you miss? I especially miss being with my friends and seeing them more often. Before COVID-19, I was able to see my sorority sisters and friends without hesitation, but when COVID set in, I was worried to see more than a couple of people at a time and felt very isolated from many of my friends.
What are you excited to do more of? I will definitely be sure to be more social, see more people, go and see movies and plays and shows. I want to go out to restaurants more! Really I just miss seeing people in social settings and having regular interactions with people that I didn’t think about before. I used to sit in the local coffee shop and see dozens of people come in and out, saying hi to friends, chatting to professors and classmates in between classes. Those were things I took for granted that are really some of the things I miss the most.
I decided to get vaccinated so I could stop feeling the fear of contracting COVID at any given point in time, no matter how careful I was. I knew that getting vaccinated would give me the chance to see my friends and family again, to talk to my grandparents in person instead of over FaceTime, to sit in on classes and be able to interact with friends and peers. I am so happy I chose to get the vaccine. It has changed my mindset and perspective in more ways than I can count, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to get vaccinated and feel safer and happier.
-Allie Kirkpatrick ’22, global studies & anthropology double major & philosophy minor, Student Senate member & former health, safety & wellness committee chair, Alpha Gamma Delta member What are you looking forward to most about returning to Lehigh in the fall? Share your responses with communications@lehigh.edu.
