Team: Women’s swim and dive
Hometown: Bedford, N.H.
Major: Economics and psychology
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Aliya Huprikar (AH): How long have you swum competitively?
Emma Schulman (ES): I did summer league starting at around age six, and then I started doing year-round swimming at around age 10.
AH: What kind of impact has swimming had on your life?
ES: I think there are two main areas, and they’re both what most people think of when they think of the positive benefits of sports. On one hand, it exposed me to a really great community of people that supported me in and out of the pool growing up, and then, at Williams, it’s such a great community. When you’re around a group of people that are all working towards the same goal, all really focused and determined, and have a hell of a lot of grit, it just makes you buy in. I feel like I’m generally a harder worker, more focused, and more determined because of the sport.
And the flip side of it are the physical aspects of it. It’s a really great outlet — if I’m ever feeling anxious, or really tired, and I swim, I’ll instantly feel better. Learning about what exercise can be is something that I’m very lucky to have realized at such a young age.
AH: Definitely. As a NARP, I envy that. At the College itself, what’s your favorite part of being on the team?
ES: Definitely the community aspect. We’re probably known on campus to be a little bit culty. I mean, that aspect just comes because we swim together. We do doubles — we swim and lift in the morning, and then swim at night, three times a week. And then we will swim six days a week, then our meets are really long. So you can imagine, we all go to practice, we all go to breakfast, we all go to dinner after night practice, and then we all go to lunch together. There are always swimmers. And we take a lot of the same classes, so we have a place in Schow. The traditions are so wonderful. They range from things like our little cheers that we do on deck to Rinkies, which is a fun little bar crawl tradition, to even just every single swimmer going to Schow when no one else in the school goes there.
AH: Women’s swim and dive just won the NESCAC Championship after achieving a dual meet streak of 135 wins. Tell me about that.
ES: Yeah, the streak is actually insane. I mean, let’s be honest: We’re at Williams, this is a Div. III school. But the streak is actually really cool, and I think that it really gets overlooked. We’ve been undefeated for a long time.
AH: Yeah, and it’s your senior year! Do you feel proud of what the team has done in your time here?
ES: I feel really, really proud of what the team has done this year and the prior three years I’ve been on the team, and I’m really lucky to be a part of such a badass group of women. There are some crazy athletes that have swam and dove for Williams, and getting to carry on that legacy is really cool. People will overlook it a lot, but there’s been some crazy athletes to walk through our team. Our coach was named in the top 100 swimming coaches of all time, so yeah, we’re a Div. III team, and it’s not like any of us are going pro or going to the Olympics, but what our team does is noticed. We also have several women’s swimmers who are in the Div. III Hall of Fame.
AH: Yeah, swim and dive, underappreciated at Williams!
ES: Yeah, it’s because we’re so culty. [Laughs.]
AH: What are your other passions on campus?
ES: I definitely think it’s a damn shame for student athletes to go through Williams only taking their classes and doing their sport. I realized that probably sophomore year — freshman year a blur, because it was restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic — but my thing is the criminal justice system. Williams has allowed me to help support the Western Massachusetts prison systems, whether it be [the Positive Pathways Partnership], or through researching with the Center for Learning in Action, or different educational programs that are available at the Berkshire House of Correction. It has been really awesome — it’s shown me the importance of getting involved in your community. My fight is definitely in the criminal justice system, making our jails and prisons more rehabilitative.
AH: Anything else you want people to know before we wrap up?
ES: Swim and dive is looking to branch out. If you are part of a student group, whether a club or a team, and you want to do a mixer with us in the spring, please reach out. [Laughs.]
