Emma Lovato was born and raised in Aurora, Colorado and is a third year undergraduate student at the American University School of Communication, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications with a minor in Economics, as well as a certificate in Advanced Leadership Studies from the School of Public Affairs.

During her time at AU Emma has contributed significantly to the creative community by serving three semesters as the Creative Director for American Literary (affectionately known as AmLit), American University’s literary and arts magazine. In this position Emma was responsible for the design, creation, and promotion of two 130-page magazines distributed to students, faculty, and other members of the AU community, as well as different projects as needed. You can view the most recent edition of AmLit here.

Outside of AmLit, Emma is honored to participate in the School of Public Affairs Leadership Program. In her first year of the program she worked alongside a group of her peers to better understand how school districts design and implement sex education curricula and how such curricula can impact the health and wellness of LGBTQ+ students. Her group found that limited reliable information was being made available to students and that a lack of representation for diverse identities negatively impacted students as they approached adulthood. Her group then decided to implement a social action project designing a comprehensive and inclusive sex education curriculum and distributed it to school districts.

In her second and third year with the program, Emma independently researched what barriers are affecting swim lesson participation and how those barriers impact children who are racial or ethnic minorities and children from low income backgrounds. The remainder of her research will focus on understanding how to increase participation in swim lessons for minority populations, and what local recreation programs can do to increase accessibility.

In addition to her research, Emma has been a teaching assistant for the program for two years. In the 2019-2020 school year she guided a group of first-year students through the research process and assisted them in their acclimation to college and life in Washington, DC. She is currently assisting six individual students through their independent research projects, and is a board member for the program’s steering committee which coordinates alumni outreach and fundraising, as well as external events and promotion.

Outside of her academic pursuits, Emma is currently a barista at Tatte Bakery & Cafe. Prior to COVID-19, she was Head Lifeguard for American University Recreational Sports and Fitness, a member of the club swim team, and a coach for the Nation’s Capitol Swim Club.