Meredith Green: A Humbling Four Years

By: Megan Stewart          

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Outgoing ASC Student Body President Meredith Green is just a few days short of getting her bachelors of science in Biology from George Fox University (GFU) and on the cusp of attending graduate school for optometry. But despite a successful year in student government and strong finish to her undergraduate career, her college experience began on a much lower note. 

“Freshman year was absolute insanity,” Green said. For one, she had to take General Biology and General Chemistry the same semester, a nightmare for any first-year Biology student. For another, she spent the entire school year struggling, unbeknownst to her, with Type 1 latent adult diagnosed diabetes (LADA), a rare form that affects only 5% of diabetics. 

“My sugar got really, really high,” Green said. “My doctor was shocked that I was able to pass my classes, let alone stay out of the hospital.”

Green described the school year as a “fever dream” in which she had extreme difficulty thinking clearly and sleeping at night. At the time, she thought she was simply experiencing “normal things for college freshmen,” such as homesickness or anxiety. When the doctor told Green her actual diagnosis, she “didn’t like it all,” explaining that it was hard “to be told you’re mortal at 20” and to realize she was not “invincible. 

Previously, Green said she had been “very confident in my ability to push through things.” Like most everyone, she had experienced “roadblocks” in life but nothing that she could not overcome. In high school, she had graduated in the top three percent of her class, but upon starting college suddenly found herself floundering to do well in first-year Biology courses. 

It got to the point where her passion for the subject waned and she considered switching her major to Philosophy. However, once she had the ability to manage her blood sugar levels as a sophomore and stumbled upon Microbiology, she regained that old love and stayed on her original educational track.

“[The experience] taught me more grace for myself,” Green said. Her parents always told her to extend grace to other people, but Green had never considered the equal importance of self-compassion. 

“You just have to push--get through it,” said Green of her prior mentality. 

Now, she has to give herself insulin. “It’s a physical reminder that I can’t get through everything on my own will,” Green said, adding that she has learned to rely on God and her medicine. “If I didn’t take my medicine, I wouldn’t be okay.”

The students of Hobson 1 also stepped up when Green needed them the most. 

“Having a floor of girls to support me was the only way I got through it and the reason I came back sophomore year,” Green said. 

Since then, Green has had many more humbling experiences while at GFU, particularly as president of the student body. For example, when she started campaigning, she was completely unprepared for the pandemic to hit or the Black Lives Matter movement to “erupt--and rightfully so”, two issues that would prove to have a significant impact on GFU students. 

“It’s an interesting balance between what I can do, what I want to do, and what people think I can do,” said Green, who received multiple emails from students earlier in the year asking her to “fix Covid.”

The job put Green’s natural leadership abilities to the test in other ways as well, such as when she had to give her first speech to the Board of Trustees. Terrified, she initially thought to herself while up at the podium, ‘Who am I to do this?’ 

“I learned a lot,” she said, noting that she was grateful to be able “to practice things in a safe environment.” 

One of the lessons she had to learn is that as a student leader she didn’t “hold a lot of power but a lot of influence.” Unlike President Baker, she could not make decisions for the school, but thanks to her station, she had a seat at the table and could still express her opinions.

“I am in a high leadership position, but I am a funnel for student voices,” Green said. “I am not the voice. If I cannot be a funnel, I am not a good leader.”

Green applied the same principles in her interactions with her student leadership staff, encouraging class representatives to share their input and tackle projects without too much interference on her part. 

“On a team with people, I might be president, but I’m still on a team. My role as a leader is to get discussions started and make people feel comfortable speaking up,” Green said, adding that it would make her feel “sad” if her staff didn’t feel like they could share their ideas or grievances. 

At the same time, Green acknowledges that she had a “broader lens” and more “context” than the rest of the staff, due to her meetings with the administration and school officials. Thus, she tried to allow people to run with their ideas while also making sure they weren’t “super off base.” She credits Mark Giese, her vice president, with keeping her in check and calling her out if she seemed like she was “steamrolling.”

Her relationship with Giese mirrors the one she has with her parents, who instilled her the values of “self-awareness and accountability.”

“It’s a gift to be able to lead, but you shouldn’t be pushy,” Green said. “You don’t want to follow pushy leaders.”

Green graduates from GFU on May 2, 2021. She has yet to commit to a graduate school for optometry but is leaning toward Ferris State in Michigan and has received acceptance letters from Salus University in Pennsylvania and Pacific University in Oregon.

Jessica Daugherty