Story by Fiona Corr '25
Image Courtesy Roisin Gaffney
Roisin Gaffney ’27 champions teamwork and gender equity.
I’ve always loved playing on teams and collaborating with people,” Roisin Gaffney ’27 (pictured) says while sitting on the porch of a compound in Bududa, Uganda.
She found her way to Uganda through Lehigh’s Iacocca International Internship to improve local education. Bududa, her home for seven weeks in summer 2024, became a place to practice several passions—sports, teamwork and female empowerment.
At Lehigh, Gaffney has many roles. She’s a business student. She plays club rugby, soccer and lacrosse. She’s a peer health advisor, an orientation leader and a member of Student Senate.
Gaffney is also a first-generation college student from San Francisco, who learned about Lehigh through a high school lacrosse teammate. What made her truly consider attending Lehigh, however, was the scholarship she received after applying.
Gaffney applied to Lehigh in 2022, a year that marked 50 years since women first arrived on campus. It was also the inaugural year of Lehigh’s Soaring Together program, a full-tuition scholarship awarded to applicants passionate about gender equity.
In high school, Gaffney challenged gender norms as a female soccer referee. In Bududa, she empowered women athletes through coaching. Now, as one of the first-ever Soaring Together scholars, she’s preparing to mentor the next cohort arriving this fall.