Virginia women’s soccer player Emma Dawson is a student first, and her passions keep her driven both on and off the pitch.

“I spend my most of my day doing research over things that I’m passionate about,” the graduate student said.

Dawson graduated from UVA with a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science in only two years. Now, in her fourth season with Virginia, Dawson is in her second semester of an Environmental Science graduate program studying climate models. It’s a passion that grew in her childhood.

“I was always a pretty outdoorsy kid,” she said. “I used to go camping with my dad. Those were some of my favorite memories growing up.”

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