Emma Roberson

Classroom

Emma Roberson has a 4.0 GPA at the University of Cincinnati as a communication major. This past school year she was named to the American Athletic Conference All-Academic Team and helped the Bearcats earn the AVCA Team Academic Award. She has earned Bearcats Strong honors at UC which recognizes student-athletes for being strong in body (athletic achievement), strong in mind (classroom achievement) and strong in character (community service achievement). In each semester at Cincinnati, she was a Topcat Scholar (4.0 GPA) and named to the Dean’s List. This fall Roberson will be honored as the volleyball recipient at the UC Legion of Excellence banquet – a night to recognize a student-athlete on each team with the highest GPA. In two seasons at the University of Evansville, she was twice a recipient of the Scholar Athlete Award and was a member of the Missouri Valley Conference Academic Award for both years.

Following this school year Roberson will pursue a Master’s Degree in either interdisciplinary early childhood education or early childhood education with a focus on language development. She would like to work as a preschool teacher with severely disabled students and get a PHD to become a professor and do research.

Character

In efforts to further her career goals, Roberson works at the Arlitt Child and Family Research and Education center at the UC campus. She focuses on preschool students with emotional and behavioral disorders, works twice a week and often stays well past her one-hour requirement. She also has plans to get a part-time job at a preschool after the season.

Roberson also has overcome a wide variety of injuries in her career to get to where she is today. She had two knee surgeries before graduating high school and played for seven months essentially without cartilage before being properly diagnosed. She had ACI (Autologous Chrondrocyte Implantation) surgery at the end of her senior season and recovered fully in eight months as opposed to the usual two-year recovery timetable, earning several MVC Freshman of the Week honors at Evansville. Currently, Roberson suffers from a bulging disk in her back and was diagnosed with early onset arthritis and patellar tendinitis in her knee but has yet to miss any time on the court.

Community

Roberson completed nearly 200 hours of community service during the 2014-15 school year. Most of those hours were at an elementary school where she volunteered in the front office and worked with special needs students. She also talked to the students about decision-making and being a college athlete. At the school, she worked about five hours a day for 30 days throughout the year. In addition to the school volunteering, Roberson lent her time to volleyball clinics (with the Special Olympics and local teams), Cincinnati youth centers (Over the Rhine Recreation Center), her church (Southeast Christian food drives) and to other UC athletic teams (worked as a timer at several swim meets).

Competition

In her first season with the Bearcats, Roberson quickly became the most dominant player on the court. She was named to the All-American Athletic Conference second team in 2014 and was one of only four unanimous selections to the Preseason All-Conference team this season. In 2014, Roberson was named to the conference weekly honor roll on three occasions and was twice named the UC Student-Athlete of the Week. She was the Art Carmichael Invitational MVP and was named to two all-tournament teams. She also set a career-high mark with 27 kills in a match against East Carolina. In addition, Roberson was named the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week in 2012 at the University of Evansville.