This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Bucknell chapter.
Meet our newest Her Campus Girl Crush, Midge Zuk!
The Basics
- Name: Midge Zuk
- Class Year: 2019
- Hometown: Monrovia, CA
- Major(s): Theatre and Political Science
Your Favorite…
- …class at Bucknell? Tie between Musical Theatre and The American Presidency!!
- …spot on campus? A booth at 7th Street
- …place you’ve traveled to? Prague <333333
- …restaurant on Market Street? Siam
- …song? Idk but when I get scared during turbulence on planes I listen to “Let it Go” from Frozen
- …movie? Legally Blonde
- …book? Gone Girl
- …(second favorite) food? Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream
…
- What are you involved in on campus? I’m president of Two Past Midnight, Chief Recruiting Officer of Kappa Alpha Theta, a tour guide, and I sing and dance a lot for the theatre department. I also received the Mauch Fellowship with my girl Elizabeth Gray so we’ll be hosting forums about politics throughout the semester!
- What has been one of the most rewarding experiences you’ve had at Bucknell? The Two Past 20th Reunion Concert happened during my first semester at Bucknell, and it was the first time I truly understood how strong Bucknell (and specifically Two Past) connections are. The fact that so many alums had traveled from all over the country to celebrate the group was crazy enough on its own, but hearing their stories and feeling the Two Past love made me realize that I was part of something so much bigger than myself. While the beginning of my first semester was pretty rough, being involved in that event reassured me that Bucknell was definitely the right place for me.
- What advice would you give to your first-year self? Buy in. Literally all of Lewisburg exists around students, and everyone within a half-hour radius wants you to succeed. I spent a lot of time during my first year wishing I was at a big urban university going to concerts and exploring new places like some of my friends from high school — but then I realized that I have the entire rest of my life to do all of those things! We only get four years to be here, where everyone knows everyone and you can hop from a class on Native American poetry to a lecture on cybersecurity to dinner with your best friend to musical rehearsal in, like, five hours. The more you buy into this school, the more you’ll get out of it.
- What do you think are important attributes in a strong female leader? My mom’s advice to me before going back to school this year was “nobody likes a party where the hostess looks stressed.” And she’s right. When a man is in charge and looks stressed, people assume that he’s focused and hardworking. When a woman is in charge and looks stressed, people assume that she’s overwhelmed. I think that the ability to slap on a smile and keep the group happy no matter what is happening internally is crucial for female leaders – even if nothing is going wrong, I’ve found that if I’m not actively smiling, I’ll have 8 million well-intentioned people coming up and asking “HOW ARE YOU YOU LOOK SO STRESSED ARE YOU OK!?!?!?!” which, personally, makes everything so much worse. I know that hearing “you need to smile more!” makes you want to punch me in the face (and you can! Seriously! Anytime!) and I struggle with it too, but I’ve also realized that it helps me keep everything in perspective – we’re in college, nothing is life-or-death, it should be fun. And this isn’t an attribute, but I truly believe that every single girl needs a girl gang. I have no idea how I’d be doing anything if I weren’t surrounded and supported by so many powerful and inspirational women.
- Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Winning cases every day and starring on Broadway every night, duh. Also most likely married to Goldie because heaven knows we’re inevitably gonna shorten the waiting period on that marriage pact.