While her peers are still asleep, she is already working, gliding through the water with the same mindset that helps her both in the pool and in the classroom. Emily Nelson ’27 always chases her dream, even when the path is difficult and takes significant effort.
Since she was very young, Emily and her twin sister Chloe Nelson ’27 have loved to swim. Nelson started swimming competitively at the age of four and has stuck with the sport ever since. She dreams of swimming in college, hopefully at Duke University or the University of North Carolina. This dream is far from easily-achievable. Emily has a very heavy practice schedule she follows to try to reach this goal.
“I practice two times a day every day of the week except Sundays,” Emily said. “Morning practices are about an hour and a half, night practices are two hours, and every other day we have workouts, which are just weightlifting and stretching.”
With this amount of dedication and practice in the water, you would think other aspects of Nelson’s life may fall behind. This is quite the opposite. Duke and North Carolina don’t just appeal to her because of swimming.
“I think just also in the academics aspect, I would pride myself on being a really good student,” Emily said. “When I excel in school and the water, it definitely continues to motivate me.”
Tenth grade government teacher Dr. Bryce Beschorner taught Emily last year and has been her advisor for the past two years. He admires all that she has been able to balance with all that she has going on.
“She is incredibly driven and incredibly disciplined in her work, as far as I’ve seen her–both as her teacher last year in government, and as her advisor,” Beschorer said. “She organizes well, she sticks to her plan, she’s a hard worker, and [she’s] just a talented student all around.”
This journey has been far from easy for Emily. Fortunately for her, she has had a built-in best friend the whole way through. For all of their lives, Emily and Chloe have been inseparable, going through all of life, childhood, school and sports together.
“You know, it’s like you always have someone that’s there for you,” Emily said. “Even if I go somewhere where I don’t know anyone, it’ s almost always with her and I can talk to her.”
Chloe has always had the same advantage of a built-in best friend. This has been a helpful thing for both of them through all of life.
“We’re pretty similar because we spend almost all of our time together,” Chloe said. “We keep each other accountable for things, that definitely helps us both out.”
The best part of the relationship the twins have is their ability to relate to one another and be there for each other through all hard times growing up. They know each other so much better than anyone could know someone else, which is one of the best parts of their relationship.
“She’s really fun and charismatic,” Chloe said. “She’s reserved at first, and then once you get to know her, she’s funny and loves having fun. She’s actually known for goofing off a little bit at practice, but at the same time, she’s still so focused and working hard.”
It’s not just swimming that Emily specializes in. She also takes musical theater, which is an elective at FWCD.
“I like singing and acting and those kinds of things,” Emily said.
This seems to be more of a talent then Emily even realizes. There are times when she can even surprise her counterpart with her talents.
“She’s such a good singer,” Chloe said. “She’s grown up singing, and whenever our parents go anywhere, I can always hear her in her room, that’s all she does.”
