Scholar Stories: Tamer Applies Critical Thinking to Classroom, Field
11/13/2019 9:58:00 AM | Field Hockey, Features
Continuing the series that began in 2016-17, each Wednesday MGoBlue.com will highlight a Michigan student-athlete and their academic pursuits. These are our Scholar-Athlete Stories, presented by Prairie Farms.
By Annie Schnoll
Ever since elementary school, Emma Tamer felt that critical thinking and quantitative reasoning skills were strengths of hers. When it came time to choose a major in college, she had a pretty good idea what she wanted to do.
But once she was at the University of Michigan, a simple comment from one of her professors changed all of that.
"The teacher asked my major and I said statistics," she recalled. "He told me I should major in math instead. It gave me something to think about. I wasn't really so focused on stats, but I loved quantitative reasoning and problem solving. Math also gives you that."
Tamer, a junior with sophomore eligibility on the U-M field hockey team, eventually made the switch because math allowed a broader quantitative reasoning education and had more offerings than stats. Plus, she could also factor in some computer programming.
Now Tamer finds herself immersed in the world of math sciences and is absolutely fascinated with her Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) course that she is enrolled in this semester.
If she has an academic highlight, switching majors was it. The way she sees it, she's bettering herself and learning a skill. That being said, Tamer also has the goal of using her degree to pursue law school and seeing where that can take her. She knows she's not locking herself into a career.
Tamer (center) credits her teammates for her goal-scoring success.
On top of her mathematical skills, Tamer was inspired to continue learning French in her pursuit of becoming bilingual (or trilingual). She spent seven weeks as part of a study-abroad program in Grenoble, France, living with a French-speaking host family and attending 16 hours of French classes per week. Because of this experience, she became better equipped to communicate with some of the team's European players like Cece Duran and Sarah Pyrtek.
Tamer earned Academic All-Big Ten and NFHCA Collegiate National Academic Team honors last season, and she has made significant strides on the field this fall. She shares the team lead in goals (seven) -- all coming via penalty corners -- and has helped spearhead a defensive unit that boasts a 1.01 goals-against average and has allowed just 5.2 shots per game. She earned National Defensive Player of the Week after U-M's back-to-back home wins against Maryland and Penn State, yet Tamer credits her team.
"It takes so much skill from the other players to get the ball down the side of the field, to get the corner, to get the insert and the stick stop," she said. "That's a team goal. I have my name on it, but it is only because of them."
Simply being at Michigan continues a legacy that began with her parents. Her mother, Libby (Keely), was a field hockey player like Emma, while her father, Chris, was an ice hockey player. Chris went on to play in the NHL for 12 years. This is a tried-and-true Michigan family.
"There's a certain type of person who goes to Michigan and a certain type of person who comes out of Michigan, and my parents are those people," she said. "I always thought of myself as a member of the big Michigan family because of them. But it wasn't until I got here that I grew an exponential amount and truly became the Michigan person that both of my parents are."
Playing and studying at Michigan makes Tamer feel more connected to both of her parents through shared experiences. Growing up in Dexter, Michigan, about a 20-minute drive from campus, also contributes to the Michigan connection.
"Michigan means a lot to me. When I was younger, I had this idea of what Michigan was. It was almost like a castle. I think big, bright lights. This is where everything is happening. I think Michigan is on one of the biggest stages than any university can be on."
