Name: Emily Rapport
Class: 2016
Hometown: Bexley, Ohio (a suburb of Columbus)
Major/Minor: English major, Spanish minor
Zodiac sign: Aries (which makes sense since she’s super strong-willed and passionate)
Eating House: Warner Hall
Activities: Co-Director of Special Projects for SGA; Social Chair of Hillel; former Dinner at Davidson chair; Writing Center; Outsiders’ Monologues
I sat down with Emily at Campus Summit on a rainy Friday afternoon for some caffeination and a quick interview. Even though Emily and I have myriad things in common (aside from the same name and same major, my best friend freshman year was her next door neighbor growing up), we’d never really crossed paths before. This semester, our baby bio class (Bio 108 forever) and theatre seminar have brought us together, which is awesome because, shocker, she’s super cool. This will surprise no one, but Emily is one of the smartest, friendliest, and most thoughtful people at Davidson. If you haven’t talked to her before, you definitely should.
Favorite movie: When Harry Met Sally (me too!) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; she’s really into quirky love stories.
Siblings: 18-year-old younger brother who she misses a lot!
Pets: She’s a definite dog person; she had a golden retriever growing up and lived with her cousin and his adorable black lab this summer.
Guilty pleasure: Late night snacks, like popcorn, cheez its, and sour patch kids.
Celebrity Crush: John Krasinski (specifically as Jim Halpert in The Office; when she was younger she fancied herself a bit of a Pam, so obviously he was her dream boy).
Favorite classes at Davidson: Dr. Fox’s disability seminar, which gave her new ways to think about bodies and connected to a lot of her other interests; American Lit with Nelson, “the best lecturer ever”; and Parables in the Jewish and Christian tradition, which she found really interesting in the context of comparing her Jewish faith to others’ Christian background.
Favorite Commons meal: The bougie brunch options, like breakfast burritos and make-your-own omelets. Specifically, she also loves the giddy, disruptive excitement of self-selection morning at Commons and the way you can see “new and old communities reforming” and coming together in the wake of self-selection.
Fun Fact: When she was in sixth grade, she officiated a wedding between two dogs. A self-proclaimed theatrical ham as a child, she wore priest robes while marrying the pups — enough of a spectacle that even the news showed up to watch.
One thing Emily emphasized during our conversation was her passion for challenging herself and pushing herself out of her comfort zone. I asked her about her favorite experiences at Davidson, which after three years was obviously hard to narrow down. She talked about the first Outsiders’ Monologues, which she helped organize, and the way they didn’t know exactly what would come of it, or what the turnout would be like. Of course, it was a big success. This is just one of many projects Emily has helped foster, and she loves the satisfaction that comes from helping a project grow from idea to execution.
Going to a small school like Davidson, Emily says, really gives you the opportunity to make things happen: to carry out big projects like Outsiders’ Monologues and the recent State of the Campus events that she and Madi Driscoll coordinated as SGA’s Co-Directors of Special Projects. Another favorite Davidson experience, she said, was Steph Curry’s recent visit—not only the presence of a Davidson (and actual) celebrity, but more importantly, the way the school came together as one, dropping everything else in complete frenzied excitement. Disruption of the norm is really good for people, she thinks.
Emily also experienced this kind of disruption while studying abroad in Nicaragua her junior fall. She wanted to study Spanish, preferably in Latin America rather than Spain. She also wanted to do something very different from the typical Davidson experience: again, pushing herself out of her comfort zone. Her group was only seven people, so everyone became really close. She loved the rich cultural history of Nicaragua and the independent research she got to do. “It was an out-there kind of experience,” she said, and it made her think a lot about social identities, both hers and others’, which continues to “trouble and motivate” her.
I also asked Emily the million-dollar question: if she knew what she wanted to do after graduation. She’s not exactly sure yet (I understand completely, Emily), but knows she wants to be working rather than going to school. Coming from a family of educators, education has played a very important role in her life, but next year she would much rather be working collaboratively than in a teaching or studying position. Motivated by risk-taking, she frames most of her choices by thinking about the learning experience that she’ll receive. She also said a move to Chicago may be in the cards, so get psyched, Illinois, Emily Rapport may be coming your way.