Star Student Athlete: LI's Emily Shines Off The Court, Too

DEER PARK-NORTH BABYLON, NY — We all know student athletes who also bring their A-game to other parts of their lives.

Here at Patch, we've launched an initiative to help recognize these heroes making a difference in their communities. We’re working to let all your neighbors know the individual stories behind the leaderboard.

This submission comes from Rosemarie Franciscovich who nominated Emily, Grade 12 of Deer Park-North Babylon.

Rosemarie, Emily's mom, has called her "Determination Girl" for her amazing contributions both on and off the tennis court.

Read on to learn more about Emily:

Star student athlete’s name

Emily

Star student athlete’s home state

New York

Star student athlete’s Patch town

Deer Park-North Babylon

How do you know the star student athlete?

Mom

What sport does the star student athlete play?

Tennis

Why do you believe the star student athlete should be recognized?

Emily loves tennis so much and has been playing since age nine. She took lessons for years, finally able to join JV in high school, moving up to being on Varsity as first singles this year in her senior year.

As a parent, in this crazy time that we live in, it's so wonderful for kids to be involved in something that can just be simple fun. Her tremendous work ethic, dedication and perseverance has earned her many accomplishments on the tennis team.

Emily has been the team captain for the past two years, was voted Most Valuable Player and received the Team Sportsmanship Award. She also worked with a local organization to coach younger kids to play tennis hoping to strengthen their skills to be ready to play in high school.

She has been doing hundreds of hours of volunteer work since 6th grade. She's worked with so many different non-profits including baking at Ronald McDonald House, socializing with puppies for Yorkie 911, putting kits together for their Beautiful Me program for Hance Family Foundation, cheering on athletes at their Special Olympic Bowling competition, handing out medals at the Special Olympic Equestrian competition, painting rocks with positive messages to leave at public parks, making no sew blankets for ISeeU Blankets, nursing homes and homeless centers, making bookmarks with positive messages for Northwell Cancer Center, putting together school supplies for United Way of Long Island.

I could continue on with so many more that we have helped. But something noteworthy to include is now Emily is focused on mentoring younger kids to continue on this work. She's been teaching them how to make no sew blankets, writing letters to Santa for Make A Wish, writing letters to seniors in nursing homes and making Thanksgiving & Christmas cards for seniors that receive Meals on Wheels.

What's one thing you want everyone to know about the star student athlete?

I've called her Determination Girl since she was a baby, she has really lived into the name during her high school years. When she sets her mind to something, she gets it done. She continually volunteers over 200 hours a year, has won the Suffolk County Distinguished Youth Award three years in a row, holds several leadership positions in school including being Vice President of the Class of 2023 and is in her final year of Girl Scouts, working on the prestigious Gold Award.

Keep up the great work, Emily!

This content is brought to our community in partnership with T-Mobile.

Know an outstanding student athlete?

Nominate them here.