From childhood to adulthood, strong friendships serve as crucial, supportive networks for mutual understanding and empowerment, offering individuals safe spaces for sharing experiences, overcoming challenges and celebrating achievements together.
Each year, National Girlfriends Day (Aug. 1) encourages individuals to recognize this special bond between women in particular—whether it’s between family members, classmates, coworkers or peers.
At Case Western Reserve University, these friendships can be witnessed and experienced daily between members of sports teams, sororities, and other organizations throughout campus. To celebrate these connections, The Daily spoke with several students who provided insight on the value of friendship.
Read on to hear their thoughts.
Answers have been edited for clarity and length.
Avery Reiman
Avery Reiman is a rising second-year student majoring in mechanical engineering, with a minor in Italian. On campus, she is a member of the women’s soccer team, Alpha Phi International Fraternity and Theta Tau, a professional engineering fraternity.
What do you appreciate most about your friends?
I appreciate how my friends value honesty and are very loyal. I also appreciate how dedicated they are to their own activities and studies, which motivates me as well. When school gets difficult, my friends are always there to help me with work or are down to have fun and step away from work.
How has being part of your organizations enhanced your college experience?
Through soccer and my sorority, I always have people I can lean on when things get hard, especially because I don’t live close to CWRU. I have a second family. When I am with my friends, they make me more confident and I don’t worry about what other people think.
Do you have any advice for incoming students on how to build lasting friendships on campus?
Realize everyone is as scared about making friends as you are and don’t try to make your best friends on the first day. Groups that seem very close tend to change after the first semester. One thing I’ve learned is to not force friendships. Over time, people will reveal themselves and you’ll realize who you truly want to spend your time with.
Rea Marfatia
Rea Marfatia, a rising fourth-year student majoring in biomedical engineering and pre-medicine, is a member of the varsity volleyball team and Delta Gamma Fraternity. She also serves on the executive board for the CWRU chapter of Society for Biomaterials and is a researcher in the Nanoscale Orthopedic Biomaterials Lab.
How did you and your friends meet?
I met my first CWRU friends my senior year of high school at nationals for club volleyball. Besides those three, I didn’t know anyone coming into my freshman year at CWRU. We all came to campus early, immediately became immersed with volleyball preseason activities, and became really close that first month of the semester because we saw each other every day through practice, games, and other training.
What do you appreciate most about your friends?
I most appreciate my friends’ sense of humor and our shared desire to learn and grow throughout our college experience. I look back at my memories with my friends and being able to laugh about things together is something I could not appreciate enough. More seriously, I appreciate that my friends not only want to succeed, but they want to see me happy and successful. Having that kind of environment where I live, at volleyball, and in the classroom is something I am beyond grateful for.
Are there any valuable lessons you’ve learned from these friendships?
I have learned to value diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives through my friendships at CWRU. Displaying open-mindedness and empathy toward people of different backgrounds than me has broadened my view. I have also learned what it means to be trustworthy as a friend by being reliable and being there for my friends in times of need. Honoring the commitments I have made to the organizations I am part of and taking responsibility for my actions is another aspect of trustworthiness I have learned through my friendships.
Melanie Taylor
A rising third-year neuroscience student on the pre-med track, Melanie Taylor is a member of the women’s track and field team and Alpha Phi. She also works at UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital as a patient care nursing associate.
What do you appreciate most about your friends?
My friendships consist of women that are so caring and understanding. Having people around me that are excited to do things like celebrate my birthday or attend one of my track meets gives me an incredible support system of people that are just so caring and I feel the same way about them. They are all so funny too, so I love knowing that no matter how I’m feeling, I always leave them laughing. I also appreciate how they all motivate me to be a better person. They’re honest with me when I need to hear it and motivate me to be better. Everyone is so smart and driven and funny and I’m constantly surrounded by people I want to emulate more.
How do your friends contribute to your sense of belonging at CWRU?
They make it feel like home. Being around others that share my interests has made it feel like I’ve found my niche at the school. Especially in track where the team is predominantly guys, I value my female friendships so much in that environment since we’re around each other a lot and it can feel a little isolating being one of the few girls there. My friendships have enhanced my experience on the team and are a large reason I continue my sport and why I enjoy showing up to practice so much everyday.
Why did you join your organization? What do you think is the significance of forming friendships with other women?
I didn’t come into CWRU looking to join a sorority because all I knew about them were the stereotypes with mean girls and a bunch of drama. I went to an event my freshman year and met a bunch of girls from different chapters and they were really cool, funny and seemed like people I’d actually love to be friends with. It seemed like a super great and easy way to make friends with girls at CWRU and as a freshman struggling to meet people, it helped my college experience so much.
Having friendships with other women is so fulfilling. These friendships are filled with understanding and humor and the way that women are there for each other is honestly unmatched. Being a woman in a STEM major or as an athlete (both areas with predominantly males) can be challenging and having other women around me that understand what I’m going through pushes me to continue in these fields and gives me a support system that I’m grateful for every single day!
Shivani Shah
A rising third-year student, Shivani Shah studies applied mathematics with a minor in music. Her campus involvement includes serving as the president of Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) and the vice president of the CWRU Math Club.
What do you appreciate most about your friends?
I appreciate being able to show my vulnerable side in front of my friends. I admire how ambitious and hard-working CWRU students are in general, but it’s nice to have conversations without only discussing our accomplishments.
What role do your friends play in your overall college experience?
My college experience wouldn’t be nearly as memorable without my friends. The memories I talk about most always involve humorous interactions with my best friends. I feel much more at home after making friends at CWRU.
Why did you join your organization? What do you think is the significance of forming friendships with other women?
I joined AWM my [second year] to make more friends with women in my major. At that point in my undergraduate career, I hadn’t started taking major-specific courses yet, so I didn’t know many people with the same academic interests.
Friendships with women are non-negotiable for me. Although we come from unique backgrounds and have different interests, we’ve all experienced misogyny in some way and silently look out for each other, both before and after becoming friends.
Maya Healy
A rising second-year student, Maya Healy studies neuroscience on the pre-med track, with a minor in Spanish. She is also part of the women’s soccer team and Alpha Phi.
What do you appreciate most about your friends?
I appreciate my friends most for their authenticity. They are kind, supportive, trustworthy, and while each person is different, they are real to who they are.
Can you share a memorable experience you’ve had with your friends at CWRU?
One of my most memorable experiences was watching the eclipse with a group of friends. We got school off, grilled food, and celebrated the whole day since it was overall such a cool and unique experience. A tradition my friends and I have developed is after a long week of classes and practice we come together to get dinner at [Leutner Commons] and end up being there for hours just catching up and talking about our weeks.
How has being part of your organizations enhanced your college experience?
Being part of the soccer team and a member of Alpha Phi gave me the opportunity to meet people I would have not otherwise met. Both organizations led me to meeting a lot of my best friends and have opened up doors to many new experiences.
My friends and I are all driven individuals, working toward achieving our own ambitious goals, while helping each other do the same. This collaborative nature creates a sense of community along with a support system within CWRU.