Florida Tech Scholar-Athlete Spotlight Recognizes Lacrosse Player Emily Harris
By Jerry Durney, Florida Tech News Bureau // April 23, 2023
harris is majoring in Pre-Medical Chemistry
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BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Being a scholar-athlete at Florida Tech takes an incredible amount of hard work and dedication to excel both in the classroom and on the field.
In this Scholar-Athlete Spotlight, we are featuring Panther women’s lacrosse player Emily Harris, a junior who is majoring in Pre-Medical Chemistry.
A goalie originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, Emily is enjoying the best season of her career in the Crimson and Gray in 2023, having tallied seven wins, a save percentage of .397% and a goals-against average of 9.43.
Harris has been named to the SSC Commissioner’s and Florida Tech Athletic Director’s Honor Roll after each of her first two seasons with the Panthers. Emily will be graduating a semester early this December!
As Emily’s final season in the Crimson and Gray nears its conclusion, we sat down with her to find out how someone with so much on her plate is able to keep everything balanced and what drives her.
■ What’s your major at Florida Tech and why did you choose this? Is it something that you’ve always wanted to do?
I’m Pre-Medical Chemistry here at Florida Tech and I knew since sixth grade I wanted to do something medical.
My parents bought me a CSI forensic kit when I was little, and I really just went to town on that and the little board game Operation and I knew since then that I wanted to do something medical, so it’s been in the in the cards since.
■ What was it about Florida Tech that made you want to be here?
Florida Tech’s a STEM school and so that really appealed to me. Just the science rigors and proximity to the beach is always wonderful.
Also, the SSC is one of the most competitive lacrosse conferences in the country and I really just wanted the challenges of the SSC and the rigors that lacrosse came with and I knew that we would be competitive here. I really chose it for the academic and the athletic rigors.
■ How do you plan to use your degree after graduation?
So, after I graduate, I’m looking at some medical school interviews. I’m currently leaning a little bit more toward the dental side, but kind of keeping all my options open. I do a lot of shadowing right now, trying to narrow down a specific pathway.
But I’m looking at four more years of medical/dental education after completing my undergrad.
■ What are some of the exciting projects that you’ve been able to work on in classes here?
So, my labs are kind of where I really get a lot of my enjoyment. Specifically, analytical labs and doing math, I’m really a math person behind chemistry. So, doing the analytical labs and then being able to put chemicals into the math is always interesting to me.
■ Lacrosse season usually spans nearly three months with plenty of road trips and practices in between, how do you keep everything balanced once the season starts?
It’s a lot of discipline and a lot of planning ahead. A lot of just scheduling proper classes during the spring compared to the fall, and then doing homework Whenever you have a little bit of time.
Sitting down to eat lunch, you got to do a little bit of homework here and there and just being able to manage every spare hour you have in the day to get stuff done ahead of time.
■ How has being a collegiate athlete prepared you for what you’re doing now and what do you take from the field that you apply to your studies?
Lacrosse, and specifically being a goalie, you really have to be a self-motivator and a lot of discipline and hard work.
I think it’s something that we prioritize here at Florida Tech to is keeping ourselves accountable. So, looking at accountability through lacrosse and pushing myself, staying on top of my studies, it’s really helped me get to where I can be on the career track that I am.
■ What advice would you give to an athlete coming to Florida Tech that has an interest in Pre-Medical Chemistry?
My advice would just stay on top of your classes. All of our chemistry classes here build on top of themselves, so if you get behind in the beginning, you will be behind in the end.
So, just stay on top of it and then look forward to all the labs because we have some great teachers here in the labs and they will help you get that hands-on experience you need for medical or anything like that after graduation.
■ What have you enjoyed the most about your time with the lacrosse program?
I’ve really enjoyed the girls! We’ve really bonded so much and we’re a tight knit group.
Especially having a small team like we do, you can be really close to everyone and you make a lot of impactful relationships that will last for years and years to come. So, just building the bonds with the girls here has really been one of the most influential parts of lacrosse during undergrad.
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