Wink’s Emily Valenzuela had her fair share of responsibilities through her high school career.
She competed in four sports, maintained her grades at a high level and balanced various activities like serving as the high school’s National Honor Society vice president.
Valenzuela is set to graduate as Wink High School’s valedictorian, preparing to continue her academic career at Texas A&M.
“I worked very hard for it, one goal I wanted to do finishing out my high school career was to be top of my class and get into Texas A&M University,” Valenzuela said. “I always wanted to go there since I was little, so it’s such a big accomplishment.”
Valenzuela competed in basketball, powerlifting, softball and golf as a Lady Wildcat, earning multiple academic accolades through each sport to go with the awards she received for her classwork.
She maintained all A’s and earned a merit award while being a regional qualifier in powerlifting and informative speaking.
The senior said she set apart days in her schedule to complete her assignments to make sure she could give her full attention to the various activities she was participating in.
Keeping everything balanced to avoid falling behind was of high importance for Valenzuela.
Valenzuela added that athletic director Brian Gibson makes it a point of emphasis with each athlete to stay on top of their classwork and make the most of academics.
“Sometimes he has a study group with some of the athletes to make sure they stay on top of their work,” Valenzuela said. “He doesn’t want any of the Wildcats to fail because that’s not the Wildcat way and that’s not what we represent as a program.”
In her next step, Valenzuela plans on majoring in mechanical engineering as an Aggie before working toward a master’s in business at Tarleton State University.
Her decision to major in mechanical engineering was influenced by the oilfield, a profession that dominates around the Permian Basin.
Valenzuela’s father worked in the industry and told her that engineers run the field.
“I want to go somewhere where I can help make a difference in people’s lives, whether that’s building bridges, that’s a typical engineering thing,” Valenzuela said. “I just like helping people out in the world, so building stuff, that’s what I wanted to do.
“It just sounds like a really interesting career and I really love math and all that.”
After talking with an engineer from Texas Tech, Valenzuela decided that she wants to get a master’s in business to stand out to future employers.
She also wants to start her own manufacturing company to get experience in the entrepreneurial side of her desired field.
Wink golf coach Charlie Stodghill called Valenzuela a well-rounded student-athlete who has done really well in everything she has done.
“Whatever she decides to do, she will excel at it,” Stodghill said. “She will make a very productive part of society going forward.”
Valenzuela will close out her athletic career at Wink with Stodghill and the girls golf team at the Class 2A state tournament May 16-17 at Lions Municipal Golf Course in Austin.
She will get ACL surgery over the summer, but she still plans on pursuing sports at Texas A&M when she starts her freshman year.
She’ll take the recreational and intramural route in athletics.
“I like their softball over there, just going into different stuff to be involved,” Valenzuela said. “[At] Texas A&M, you don’t want to be part of the top 2% that doesn’t do anything because that’s very frowned upon.
“I’m just trying to be involved as much as I can over there.”
>> Follow Chris Amaya on Twitter at @OA_CAmaya
EMILY VALENZUELA
WINK
>> Academic Rank: No. 1 (Valedictorian) of 18
>> Sports: Basketball, Powerlifting, Softball, Golf
>> Academic bio: National Honor Society vice president; All “A’s” Academic Award; Merit Award; UIL Informative Speaking regional qualifier; UIL Science/Social Studies District competitor (freshman, sophomore); UIL Informational Speaking/Current Events District competitor (junior, senior)
>> Athletic bio: Basketball (Academic All-District); Softball (Academic All-District); Powerlifting (Regional qualifier); Golf (State Qualifier, 2021-2022)
>> Activities: Student Council; Football manager; Track manager; Hunting; Fishing; Spending time at the lake with my family
>> College and major: Texas A&M University (Mechanical Engineering)
>> Goals for the future: Graduate from Texas A&M University with my degree, then pursue a Masters degree in Business at Tarleton State University. Then start my own manufacturing company or work for one
>> Favorite subject: Math
>> Favorite book: The Outsiders
>> Favorite musician: Turnpike Troubadours
>> Role model: My mom. She shows up at all my sporting event, at home or three hours away; She knows how important it is for me to have good grades and pushes me to be the best at anything I can do.
