Natalie Walsh '22 is a peer mentor, campus guide and admissions fellow.
Image by Christa Neu
Natalie Walsh ’22 from Golden, Colorado was accepted into Lehigh Business, but deferred at the last minute to take a gap year. She spent it teaching English and doing conservation work in Ghana, South Africa, Peru, Nepal and Thailand. “I like teaching,” she says, “but after six weeks, I really needed a nap.”
This past January, Walsh, a finance major with minors in entrepreneurship, real estate and international relations, participated in LehighSiliconValley. Despite being virtual, she describes the two weeks as intensive and immersive. Executives from numerous companies presented problems to her team, the team would research the situation and propose solutions, some of which were implemented. “I learned people are more driven when they are allowed to set their own goals,” says Walsh.
Walsh worked for a brokerage firm this past summer and is looking to get into financial analysis in commercial real estate, but she doesn’t have her heart set on it. One of her professors advised her to think of her studies as a totem pole. A solid body of knowledge with a series of wings so you have as many options as possible. “I chose business just because the skills are so applicable regardless of what you’re doing,” says Walsh.