- Emma BeMiller, junior
- Marist School
Emma BeMiller prides herself on her involvement in her school and community.
She is a varsity tennis player and cheerleader. She has played tennis all through high school and is the team chaplain this year. Emma is also team chaplain of the cheerleading squad.
Emma helps out as a leader during Marist’s annual class retreats, which start the school year. She shyly explains that she acts as a role model and mentor to underclassmen over the course of the retreat and is a friendly face in the halls for them during the school year.
“There are different retreats for each grade so I’ve led the ninth and tenth grade ones, and hopefully I will lead the eleventh grade one next year as well,” Emma said.
She is also involved in the academic arena as a member of Marist’s French and math honor societies.
Outside of school, she is a member of Youth Leadership DeKalb, along with students from other DeKalb schools.
“We meet to get to know students from other schools and to learn about business things and other stuff for the future,” Emma said.
Her favorite class is chemistry, which she says with a laugh “is really, really hard, but fun and rewarding.” She likes it because doing the experiments in class makes her feel like a real scientist, she said. She also loves math.
“I’m really just a math-science person,” Emma said.
Her affinity for science runs in the family; her grandfather is a chemistry professor. “He loves it and being around him just makes me really interested in it too,” Emma said.
She says Naitnaphit Limlamai, Emma’s AP English Language and Composition teacher, has influenced her particularly.
“It’s really funny because English is totally not what I’m good at! She’s just made a class I really didn’t think I would like a lot easier for me than I expected. She relates what we read really well to our lives,” Emma said. “We read stuff that’s contemporary, and I don’t know, she makes you want to care about it.”
Limlamai sings Emma’s praises, too.
“Emma is a student that is a delight to teach. She is engaged with her classmates and the course work. She thinks for herself and extends the work that we do in class to impact how she sees and develops an understanding of the complex world around her,” Limlamai said.
What’s Next:
Emma is set to graduate next year with seven Advanced Placement courses. As a senior, she plans to take an AP class equivalent to two semesters of college calculus, as well as AP Literature, AP French, and advanced courses in physics, government and economics and religion.
Her top college choices include the University of Virginia and Stanford University. She plans to study “something in the sciences.”
–Megan Ernst