Kicking off the first nomination of winter term, we have Emily Stein ’24! Emily is a first year student at Union College.

Stein was nominated by Ebyan Abshir ’24, Jessica Strzepek ’24, Tyerohn Coleman ’24, and Ashley German ’24, who had the following to say:

“Emily is a Posse member and a first year student. She works hard constantly, day-in and day-out. You can catch her around campus riding her skateboard and saying ‘hi’ to literally every person she sees. She’s joining student forum to help her fellow students and make their voices heard. She cares about the environment and race issues and diversity and wants to make these a key focus in her campaign. I’m so proud to have Emily as my friend and chem/calculus tutor at times. She deserves this nomination and I believe she is one of the most inspiring women I have met so far. She even joined the rugby team and puts a daily effort in trying to make connections on campus.”

“She puts a lot of effort into everything she does and is always someone I look up to when I feel lost.”

“I am nominating Emily Stein because she truly is the definition of a risk taker and someone who always is looking out for the best interests of others. She is currently on student forum and it just shows how selfless she is. Not only does she want to find a way to increase diversity on campus but she also wants to be able to increase food options for people on campus with dietary restrictions. She is also someone who when you don’t have the answers to something she always finds a way to find that answer. As you can see she is awesome and I know that she is trying to find her place here at Union and I want to show her that she already has a place here.”

According to Stein, one of her proudest accomplishments is “making the Posse scholarship. I went in just being myself and seeing what came out of it and to my surprise, they wanted me to be one of the 10 kids that attends Union College.” In addition, “another one would be when me and some of my high school friends won an engineering manufacturing challenge even though we all had no clue what was going on. We signed up just so we could all work on a project together and somehow we beat everyone else who competed in our state.” Finally, Emily states that “my final accomplishment would probably be making secretary/treasurer for the freshman class. I want to make so much change and I am so excited that now I have the chance.”

Stein is passionate about “helping people and making a difference in other people’s lives. Even if it’s just making someone smile when they have had a bad day.” She also is “passionate about skateboarding. I probably mention it whenever anyone asks me what I do in my free time or what I like to do. I am not very good but I can stay on the board for an extended period of time and I consider that to be decent.”

“I look up to my friends,” Stein states, adding, “I am surrounded by some of the most positive and passionate and driven and kind people and seeing them do great things pushes me to do great things.”

According to Stein, being a woman at Union means “being strong and independent and being able to speak your mind. It means pursuing your dreams no matter what anyone else thinks or says. It’s about just simply being the best version of yourself and not caring how other people might be judging you for doing you.”