Maryland Made Q&A: Emma Pegg

Emma Pegg was just like every other freshman stepping onto a college campus for the first time: nervous, a little shy, and not comfortable being in a leadership role. Well, fast-forward two years and the junior from Chatham, Ontario has stepped up confidently into her current role as the Vice President for the Pre-Health Terps program.

umterps.com sat down with Pegg for a Q&A on her role and personal growth. 

What made you want to take on a leadership role in the program?

I wanted to be on the Pre-Health Terps board mainly so that I can kind of step outside my comfort zone and gain a leadership role where I can be engaged in not only bettering my future, but as well as helping other Terps in the pre-health field better their futures as well gain experiences through that. That's probably the number one reason.

So a leadership role was not what you imagined coming into this program?

Not really, I was a pretty shy freshman. I didn't really do anything outside of my comfort zone. I had a few teammates within the program who were on some boards with leadership roles. But it wasn't really until the Kubasik program that I finished last year where I was really starting to try to build a network within Maryland Made and became comfortable with my peers. And then I kind of just realized that it's really not that big of a step forward. And I just think it's a really cool thing to help other people kind of open up the way that I was able to.

What do you hope to accomplish in your role?

Just mainly helping other people feel confident in asking questions and finding the resources they need. I'm interested in the paramedic field as of right now, and I know that wasn't talked about a lot in the last two years in the program. So that's something where I kind of want to bring forth career paths that aren't necessarily talked about as much so that other people do know that there are other career paths in the pre-health field other than PT and OT. 

What are your career plans?

As of last year, after finishing the Kubasik program, I realized that I really have a passion for emergency medical situations. So I'm kind of in the lane of wanting to go to paramedic college after school but, you know, I still also have my kinesiology degrees. So I'm keeping my options open in case I want to go to graduate school for athletic training or something. But I don't know, I think there's still a lot to explore within those fields, because there's so many job opportunities, and I think it's really just wherever my path takes me. 

How does PHT help Terps interested in the medical field through a tough school-athletics balance?

I think in general, when you're in a group or a club, it kind of just helps you build a network of people of like minds and it gives you a connection with your peers who you can go to for literally anything. We're all kind of going through the same things together and being a pre-health major has its challenges. Being an athlete, there's a lot of heavy course material that you have to get through and a lot of prerequisites and tests that you have to write at the end of your years. But I think if we all kind of go through it together, and we're there kind of helping each other through the process, it just makes that balance so much easier.

How helpful is it to not only be involved in a program, but make connections and have a support system of other students-athletes interested in the same profession you are?

I didn't really realize how hard it is to balance being a student, athlete, and being in college and having that heavy course load. As a freshman, I did struggle with it a lot. And, having that outlet of I was also in Worldwide Terps and I was in Pre-Health Terps, and kind of seeing how the upperclassmen were handling things. I was kind of like wow, ‘How are they doing that?’Just being able to go to them and them helping you through that, it’s been really cool. So I'm glad that I can now help other people going through that as well.

What is your favorite thing about being a part of the program?

I think my favorite thing is being able to work with the board. I've become really close with the girls on the board now as well, as well as working with the Maryland Made staff. It's really great to have connections with them and being able to hear other people's views on things and being able to incorporate that into our program. I know that we want to do some community service type things this year. I know those have always been talked about in the past but haven't always been executed. So that's something I'm really excited for as well as, just kind of hearing what other people have to say about the program and how we can better it each and every time.

If you had a message to anyone thinking about getting involved, what would it be?

I think every freshman hears it, ‘Get involved when you go to school and find the clubs that suit you.’ Honestly, it’s just really putting yourself out there and going to those clubs and joining the programs that you're presented with. We only have four years here and as student-athletes, we are given a lot of resources and taking advantage of those is going to be really, really helpful. I didn't really take advantage of them much until my sophomore year when I really started to get involved with the Kubasik program and now with Gossett Fellows, so it just really helped me build a great connection with the Maryland Made staff as well as just come outside of my comfort zone. I am not the same person that I was but I'm really happy that I was able to make new friends and everything.