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Emma brings a rare mix of critical thinking and genuine curiosity to every academic space she’s in. She pushes beyond surface-level ideas, especially in economics, where she uses frameworks like Doughnut Economics alongside texts like Freakonomics to question how systems shape human behavior and outcomes.  She does not accept economic models at face value, instead examining the assumptions behind them and connecting data, incentives, and behavior to larger environmental and social impacts. She is the first to push others’ thinking during English class discussions, and she does so with genuine originality, evidence-based thinking, as well as compassion for others. The ability to move between theory and real world implications is what defines her critical thinking lens.

What stays with me most is the way Emma thinks. She is reflective, analytical, and unafraid to challenge how systems are designed and who they serve.

As she heads to Colorado College this fall to major in Environmental Studies and minor in Forestry, Middle College has no doubt that she will use her critical-thinking lens to help shape environmental policy and rethink the systems that define how we live and interact with our world.