Photography courtesy Rockbridge Academy
Emma McLaughlin has been working at the Five Guys restaurants that her parents have owned since she was 10. She’s learning the business from the ground up. This summer, McLaughlin, a senior at Rockbridge Academy in Crownsville, put in about 30 hours a week at the Pasadena store.
“I did everything,” she says. “I worked the grill. I dressed the burgers. We would have tablets where we would go out to curbside and take peoples orders or confirm orders or they would call in. I would also work the register.”
Her dad Mike has asked her out about someday taking over his nine restaurants, but she has other things in mind. McLaughlin wants to run her own business. She’ll major in business management next fall at George Washington University, which she will attend on a lacrosse scholarship.
“Ever since I was little, I tried to think of those million-dollar ideas,” says McLaughlin, who carries a 3.8 grade-point average. “I would always try to brainstorm a business plan.”
The idea McLaughlin, a three-sport athlete at Rockbridge, is most excited about is starting a regional women’s lacrosse club after college. McLaughlin played for three clubs before she found one, Uproar Lacrosse, where she didn’t feel frustrated. She says both her positive and negative experiences have shown her a lot about how to, and how not to, run a club.
“That would be a really cool business to run,” says McLaughlin, who has spent eight years on club teams. “It would combine my interest in business and my love of lacrosse. That would be an awesome thing.”
It was club lacrosse that set her up to play at the college level. Picking George Washington was an easy decision. The 5-foot-4 McLaughlin also received interest from Messiah University and Gettysburg and Lafayette colleges.
“GW was the perfect fit,” she explains. “I get to play lacrosse at a high level—Division I—and I get a great education. Coach (Jennifer Ulehla) is amazing. When I first met her, she said, ‘Let’s go win an A-10 championship.’ That was really exciting. She is so focused and driven. That’s what I always wanted in a coach to help me be the best I could be.”
Uproar Lacrosse Coach Mark Mozier says McLaughlin, a midfielder, turned herself into a Division I lacrosse prospect during the past two years with his club. She worked on several areas of her game including stickwork and going to the goal more, while improving her quickness and fitness.
“She is an unbelievable workhorse when it comes to making herself a better player,” he explains. “I knew she could play in college. I didn’t know where. After about a year, I told her she was going to go to Division I. There’s no way she is not going to go Division I.”
Mozier believes McLaughlin will play right away at George Washington. “She will make an impact right away as a freshman,” he says. “A lot of girls get recruited and don’t see the field the first year or two.”
McLaughlin dominated on the Rockbridge varsity lacrosse team. She totaled 49 goals and 17 assists as a sophomore and earned second-team all-conference honors her first two years in high school.
“I think I play the game the right way,” McLaughlin says. “You always want to pass and I don’t want to be a ball hog. I am not going to take a bad shot instead of passing the ball and getting the assist. I am looking to set my teammates up and that’s how you play sports.”
McLaughlin also participated in basketball and soccer at Rockbridge. She started for two years on the soccer team as a forward and combined for 22 goals during her sophomore and junior seasons.
The guard led the basketball team in three pointers last winter. “She is a coach’s dream athlete,” says Rockbridge Girls Basketball Coach Donna Griffith, who doubles as the school’s girls lacrosse coach. “She has a work ethic that is tremendous. She goes above and beyond. And she is a great mentor for younger athletes. She is a leader in an emotional way.”
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