Lehigh University: Undergraduate Admissions

 

   

Gemma Kite

Like many students, Gemma Kite, ’07, and a group of friends spent the spring break of their first year in Orlando, Florida. They tanned, swam, and toured Disney World. And they served terminally ill children.

The students worked and lived at Give Kids the World, a village in Orlando designed for sick children and their families. The trip was sponsored by Spring SERVE, a program planned by the Community Service Office where Gemma works.

 One morning during their stay, Gemma and her friends were inspired by a troop of clowns who sang and danced with the children during breakfast. They agreed to sing for a family with two children, their parents, and both sets of grandparents. So the college students circled the family and sang loudly, You Are My Sunshine. The sick boy began laughing uncontrollably. Soon, students were dancing across the dining hall with him and each other, laughing and singing as they went.

Then, Gemma noticed that all of the adult family members were crying, touched by the fact that this was the first time their child had smiled in months.

“We were able to bring these kids so much light and happiness,” Gemma says, “That was one of many, many times I have been very touched and humbled at Give Kids the World. It is like no place on earth.”

Gemma’s passion for service also attracted her to Lehigh’s environmental engineering program. As an environmental engineer, Gemma will provide for basic needs, such as clean water and sanitary needs.

“I like that I could feel like I am helping the community,” she says.

After graduation, Gemma hopes to work in countries that need basic supplies. 

 “So much works needs to be done,” she says. “Many people need clean water and sanitary pumps.”

So, when Gemma began considering colleges, she looked for colleges with environmental engineering. This search led her to Lehigh, one of the few schools that offer environmental engineering as a distinct major to undergraduates. 

Lehigh’s program explores the relations between the environment, engineering, and society. Gemma takes many engineering courses, but other classes focus on the interaction between society, religion, and culture with the environment.

Since the environmental engineering program is new, Gemma’s professors encourage students to offer suggestions.

“Watching the environmental engineering program grow and develop has been a special experience,” Gemma says. “I have no doubt that in the years to come the program will continue to expand as more people become aware of the need for positive impacts to be made on the environment.”

This fall, Gemma is working as an intern for KCI Technologies, a consulting agency based out of Maryland. Her internship is part of a cooperative education program (co-op), which lasts for four months this fall and three months next summer. Engineering students in the top third of their department can apply to several companies, and then the companies conduct interviews on campus. Once accepted, co-op students take summer classes and start their internship during the fall semester.

While at KCI, Gemma is learning through experience what she is taught in her classes.

“[The internship] exposes me to something I would never be able to experience any other way,” Gemma says.

 While on the job, Gemma writes proposals, researches problems and draws sitemaps using design programs similar to AutoCAD.

After graduation, many students are hired by the companies where they had their co-op. 

 “If you do well,” Gemma says, “and they like you and you like them, you may get a job offer.”