By Caley Breese
Not many 18-year-olds know exactly what he or she wants to do as a career after high school. However, Emma Hill, a very focused and driven senior at Queen Anne's County High School in Centreville, has a pretty good idea of what she wants to achieve after college.
Hill, who has been a member of both the soccer and basketball varsity teams since her freshman year, will be attending Salisbury University in the fall to play soccer and study Secondary Education in math. Although she has her future in college set, Hill has not stopped working hard every day to ensure she is the best student and athlete she can be.
“Soccer goes year-round for me,” Hill explains. “Weekly, I have two practices; and I also do goalkeeper-specific training another two days out of the week. So four days out of the week, I’m on the field training. And then every day except for Sunday, I’m in the gym lifting, running, those kind of strength-specific things.”
When it comes to getting involved in athletics, Hill credits her father.
“My dad was a huge influence,” she remembers. “We’d go play sports together, and we really bonded through that, so it was really cool.”
However, Hill’s athleticism isn’t the only thing she’s focused on. She carries a weighted 3.8 GPA, and is determined to earn a 4.0.
“I’m working my way back to a 4.0 because it’s something I really want and I’m really pushing myself to get that.”
A very busy senior in addition to soccer and goalkeeper training, Hill is a member of the National Honor Society, is on the Honor Roll, and is also completing a semester-long internship at Centreville Middle School, where she provides support to the teaching staff and often helps teach lessons. Her goal after college is to become a high school math teacher, as well as coach soccer and basketball.
As a student-athlete and with everything she does, Hill unquestionably knows how to balance her education and athletics.
“It’s all about how you manage your time. When you have free time, not just going straight for the TV or going straight to playing video games,” she advises. “When you have free time, it’s making the most of your extra seconds.”
With the hard work she puts into her education and athletics, Hill certainly reaps the rewards for it. In her junior year of high school, she was recognized on the Maryland Girls’ Soccer Honorable Mention All-State Team, and in the fall of her senior year, she made 2nd Team. Additionally, this past fall, she was voted by the Bayside Coaches as the North Bayside Conference Player of the Year. Needless to say, she’s been busy.
Hill, however, remains very humbled by the honors. “It wasn’t something that I initially worked to get; it was a reward of working hard throughout the years.”
And working hard she does. Hill had a number of offers to play soccer, from colleges like York College of Pennsylvania, Lynchburg, and Frostburg; however, she chose Salisbury for a number of reasons.
“A lot of it was because they’re really good at teaching people how to teach—they have a really good education program,” she explains. So that was one thing that really caught my interest.”
Hill also likes the size of the school and the location as well. One other big reason for wanting to attend Salisbury, however, is because how much she admires her future soccer coach.
“He’s a really great guy. He’s a family-man and really makes time for his family, which I think is really admirable, considering it takes up so much time to coach at a collegiate level,” she smiles. “He’s a really great guy; [he’s] just really passionate about coaching and being the best coach he can be.”
Clearly excited for her collegiate career to begin, Hill leaves us with some great advice.
“Don’t work for 1st Team All-Conference. Don’t work for 2nd Team All-State. Work to be the best you you can be.”
