“And someone literally just came in our room and friggin slapped me upside the face with a handful of whipped cream and then like, we all just darted into the living room and got covered with it. Like it was in our teeth and our hair…I think that those moments were like lights in the dark.”
Mack Emery is a psychology junior at Merrimack and a member of the women’s ice hockey team. She is also a mental health advocate and an active member of the LGBTQ+ community. In the spring semester of 2022, Emery will continue her hockey and academic career at Plattsburgh State College in northern New York.
The interview covers a number of topics related to Emery’s experiences during the pandemic–mental health, academics, relationships, and more–with a particular focus on her experiences as an athlete.
Excerpt
Kennedy MacAlpine: Alright well so knowing what you know now as a division one college athlete who trained and competed during a pandemic, which is–cheers to you that’s an insane accomplishment–what advice would you have given your past self, what Mack Emery would say to Mack Emery this time last year, what would you say?
Mack Emery: It gets better. I mean that sounds corny and cliche but like it does. Like–if you just have patience and like yeah it’s going to suck and like shit’s gonna happen, but like it does get better.
KM: Totally sweet simple good answer. I’d say the same thing to myself honestly like, what we went through last year, I’d say to take a deep breath, chill out, you don’t need to do everything right now. Everything will pan out the way it should be, everything happens for a reason
Interview Details
The interview was conducted in North Andover on November 27th, 2021 by Kennedy MacAlpine.
Accession Number
2021.70.1
This interview is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.