| Honored by: | Katie Paulus |
| Brick location: | map |
Emily was so many amazing things. Brilliant, courageous, determined, kind, authentic, inspiring, and beautiful inside and out to name a few.
From her first day, Emily was a fighter, and took each hurdle life had for her in stride. She was born with Tetralogy of Fallot as well as Cystic Fibrosis, and never let it stop her or get in the way of reaching (and surpassing) her academic and life goals. She never complained about the hundreds of doctor appointments, meds, and obstacles that came her way. She grew up in Clear Lake, where she was active in National Honor Society, Band, Marching Band, Pep Band, and Speech Club, making it to state three times. Emily participated in many school plays before graduating Clear Lake High School in 2019 with four years of 4.0s. She continued her education at NIACC and continued to excel. She was honored with NIACC’s Student Leadership Award, a recipient of their Outstanding Student Achievement, Pathway to Success, was a member of PTK, and was admitted into the NIACC Hall of Fame for her academics. Emily was attentive to others and tutored many chemistry students before graduating from NIACC in 2021 with another 4.0. Emily was continuing her education at Iowa State University where she was working to become a software engineer.
Emily found joy surrounded by others, whether it was hanging out with the Roundup Gang, time spent singing carpool karaoke, or making tik toks. Studying with her brother, getting food with her sister, long walks with her mom, and floating the river with her dad made her happy. She looked forward to bike rides around the lake and great conversation with those she loved. Emily had a creative spirit and enjoyed making art on any canvas. Her nephew, Huxley, saw her as one of the kids, and loved to spend time with her.
Everyone who was fortunate enough to be in her life is a better person because of her and we will all miss her dearly.