As a libero and defensive specialist, Emma Dionne (12) moves quickly in the back row, ready to pass the ball to her teammates. Whether on the court or on the benches, she always wears a large smile and cheers for her teammates as loudly as she can. As a volleyball player, she embraces each experience she has and keeps an optimistic attitude in any situation.

Emma is a fiercely devoted volleyball player who has played volleyball since middle school and is currently on the Harker varsity girls volleyball team as well as a year-round team at the City Beach Volleyball Club. Most memorable to Emma in her high school volleyball career was the Notre Dame-Belmont tournament during her sophomore year. Although she sat on the bench, she cheered the loudest to root on her team.

“[The Notre Dame-Belmont tournament] shifted how I saw being on a team. You don’t have to be on the court to contribute; you’re important no matter where you are,” Emma said. “It was almost a turning point of the season where we started doing really well afterwards … I started to like even cheering on the bench.”

For Emma, being on a team is the best part of sports. She values the time with her teammates since having a season at the beginning of the year helps boost her year off to a good start.

“The team aspect is really appealing to me, because you see the same group of girls every single day so it’s a really great support network,” she said. “It’s fun to play sports and get out of the stressful environments that you’re in sometimes.”

Emma’s friend and teammate since sixth grade, Shreya Srinivasan (12) comments that rather than focusing on being in the spotlight, Emma values her team contribution above all. 

“She always tries to make everyone around her a better person, and her presence has a way of cheering everyone up, and she’s one of those people I think everyone goes to because you can count on her to be the person who lifts your mood up,” Shreya said. 

Competing in sports not only helped Emma on the court and her teammates, but it also allowed Emma to become a great planner. While it is tough to balance academics with athletics, Emma manages to do it all. Her commitment to sports and her rigorous course load has challenged Emma to manage her time wisely.

“For me, Harker is really good at teaching the discipline and working hard because I learned how to study and it would prepare me for college. I write everything out and make sure that I get everything done because I really don’t like to turn in things late, so one habit I developed was to be on time with my work,” Emma said. 

Although Emma now balances her busy life with grace, she had to learn how to coordinate with her teachers with her scheduling conflicts due to volleyball tournaments or practice. She initially struggled to overcome her reserved demeanor, but by the time of her junior year, she began to reach out to her teachers for support during the volleyball season, a decision that helped to make a big impact. 

“I struggled a bit because volleyball is in the fall, which is at the beginning of the school year, so I would like to go to my teachers to talk about missing their class. After talking to them, I realized that I can actually go to them and ask questions,” she said. 

Apart from volleyball, Emma also played on the softball team in both her freshman and junior years. As both her softball coach and biology teacher, Dr. Matthew Harley has seen Emma grow both on and off the field. 

“I really want to highlight how much she wants to help others and how much she wants to do her best at whatever she’s tackling. She’s a fierce athlete, a fierce student and presumably a fierce friend as well,” Dr. Harley said. “I use words like fierce since she is a fierce competitor—putting in all the work and doing what’s best for the team—but then immediately switches over to huge smiles when interacting with her teammates or her classmates.”

Emma’s cheerful personality is also evident in her daily interactions with her peers. Friend since seventh grade Fonda Hu (12) talks about the fun activities they do together, from spicy food challenges to watching Schitt’s Creek to exploring new cities. 

“She always wants to help us keep an active lifestyle and make sure that we’re making the most out of our time together,” Fonda said.

Always the teammate to cheer with, the friend to talk and try new things with and, of course, the active athlete on the court, Emma takes extra pains to spread positivity and joy. 

“I hope my optimism can help people focus on the positive side. I really hope that we would not risk our happiness [by] being so serious and so focused on the future. Instead, we could enjoy the moment a little bit more,” Emma said.