Whiz Kid: Scholar-Athlete, Volunteer Moves Onto Next Level

A high honor roll student throughout her high school career, Emma was the recipient of the Award for General Academic Excellence and the President's Award for Academic Excellence.  She took seven A.P.  courses and was a member of the National Honor Society and the Foreign Language Honor Society.  Emma played the flute and piccolo in the school district's music programs and was a member of the symphonic concert band in high school.  She participated in the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) competitions on the flute. 

Captain of her spring track, winter track and volleyball teams, Emma was one of nine seniors to be awarded the Suffolk County Section XI Gold Key for having received seven or more Varsity letters between 10th and 12th grades in high school.  As a freshman, she broke her high school's spring track shot put and discus records and continued to break her own records through senior year.  She was Division III Suffolk County champion in shot put as a senior.  She was selected for the Suffolk County All-Academic Team for spring track, as well as All-League, All-Division and Scholar Athlete.  As a Varsity volleyball player, Emma was the recipient of the Coach's Award, Most Valuable Player, All-League and Scholar Athlete Awards.  She played travel volleyball with Long Island Volleyball Academy.

Emma was selected to be a member of Athletes Helping Athletes, a program where high school athletes are trained to mentor and advise younger students. She was also a member of the Service Club and the Varsity Club. 

As a four year sound director for the district's drama productions and variety shows, Emma was inducted into the International Thespian Society, which recognizes student achievement in theater.  She was the recipient of her high school's Outstanding Act of Kindness Award for her collection of 93 coats for the school's annual coat drive and recognized by the Board of Education for her fundraising efforts for her volleyball team's annual Dig Pink Event for breast cancer research.  

Emma has volunteered her time for Miracle League, Safe Halloween, Christmas Magic, Miller Place Friends of the Arts, Great Brookhaven Clean Up, PTO events and has been an altar server for St. Louis de Montfort Church since the fourth grade.  This summer she spent a week as a counselor at a camp for children with muscular dystrophy.  She represented her high school at a leaders conference at Stanford University in California in 2011. 

A Girl Scout from Kindergarten through her senior year of high school, Emma recently completed her Gold Award project.  She made 16 quilted wall hangings for the patient rooms at the Good Shepherd Hospice in Port Jefferson, with a large clock attached to the center of each quilt. 

Emma was the recipient of the Girl Scouts of Suffolk County Past Presidents Scholarship, the Rotary Club of Rocky Point Scholarship, the Miller Place PTO Scholarship, the St. Louis de Montfort Betty and George Macdonald Memorial Scholarship, the Miller Place Panther Player Scholarship, the top SUNYIT Merit Scholarship and the Side-Out Ambassador Scholarship.  She was one of three people in the nation to receive the 2012 Side-Out/AVCA National Dig Pink Award for her fundraising efforts for breast cancer through volleyball. 

Emma will be playing volleyball for SUNY Institute of Technology, majoring in Community and Behavioral Health, with the career goal of becoming a Child Life Specialist.