Curled, golden hair frames her face as Emmy Huchley (12) confidently strides across the Patil Theatre stage, fully immersed into her role as the lead, Hope Cladwell, in the musical Urinetown. As the spotlight finds her, the rest of the stage melts away and nearly every person in the audience sits at the edge of their seat, waiting for her to begin. She bursts into song, her honey-like, melodic voice captivating the attention of each audience member.

Whether she is acting in a play, singing with Downbeat, speaking about important topics during Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) club meetings or just hanging out with her friends, Emmy’s bubbly personality is always apparent.

“I think everyone knows that I’m a pretty cheerful person, and I like to think that it’s easy to perceive,” said Emmy. “ A lot of people think that I’m very bubbly, that’s sort of the number one thing. I love to be thought of as a happy and inviting person. I never want people to see me and be scared to approach me.”

Emmy began her career as a performer at 2 years old, taking various dance classes. However, at age 7, she found her true passion: singing. After years of choir, her interest in the performing arts began to heighten after acting for the first time in the middle school fall play, despite only having seven lines. From there, her love and devotion to the arts skyrocketed, and she continues to learn important lessons that she applies to her life.

“Performing has helped a lot with being confident in front of other people, it’s kind of easier for me to say lines than to give a speech in front of people. But with acting so much, giving a speech kind of becomes easier, because I pretend I’m acting,” said Emmy.

Although she was never very shy, Emmy was definitely not as outgoing as she is now. Through both GSA and the arts, Emmy was able to find a way to express her thoughts and ideas in a more authoritative way. Laura Lang-Ree, Emmy’s advisor and the performing arts director, fondly looks back upon her four years with Emmy.

“She’s grown both as a person in her confidence and as a performer,” she said. “She is thoughtful and measured in what she says but at the same time she is commanding and sassy and truly has grown into an amazing woman.”

Throughout her many extracurriculars, Emmy always tries to maintain a positive attitude.

“She’s very enthusiastic and bubbly. Whenever I walk up to her, she greets me with this smile that is so inviting -with her eyebrows raised and everything- she’s always so excited to see the people she cares about,” said Ellie Lang-Ree (12), her close friend from performing arts and GSA.

As a performing artist, Emmy is often tasked with many duties, from memorizing lines to practicing dozens of pages of song. Her activities’ high demand for constant work have helped refine her organizational skills and help her maintain her focus.

“I’ve always been organized and I love to coordinate my items. I feel like if you’re looking at a boring or messy table then you sort of lose motivation,” Emmy said. “The thing with performing, though, is that, by a certain date, the thing that you’re doing is gonna be seen by tons of people, regardless of how ready you are. It’s a great incentive for me to really know everything, and stay on my toes. That’s kind of carried over to other parts of my life.”

Not only does she manage to keep herself focused despite whatever obstacles lay ahead of her, but she also manages to maintain healthy, open friendships. Her friends are often the first to hear about her projects and give her advice.

Raphael Sanche (12), another close friend of Emmy’s, said, “We have a very relaxed friendship, we talk about pretty much anything. We’ll talk about current events or our own life and ping pong our ideas off each other.”

Emmy has a very tight knit group of friends, and she continues to try to build stronger relationships with them, despite having known some of them for many years. Her eyes soften and her smile widens as she begins to speak about her group.

“Every time I talk to one of my friends, I try to check in with them about how their day is going,” Emmy said. “Something that is really important to me and how I live my life is the idea that, if I have the capacity to help someone, I should. I don’t want to be the person that ignores an issue, no matter how small it is. Whether it’s just me checking in about how their day or sharing personal advice, I think that there’s never a reason for me to ignore someone else’s problem.”