Emma Marra entered Boston Latin School as a seventh grader in 1997. She is a member of the class of 2003, and has lived in Hyde Park her entire life. She has an older sister, Molly, and a younger brother, Michael. She is the product of two very politically active parents, Robert and Marylee Marra, which is partly why Emma was interested in the Ward Fellowship. Emma is currently looking at a number of colleges located in Montreal, Washington D.C., New Jersey, New York City, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Although she has yet to decide what her major will be in college and what she eventually wants to become, the John William Ward Fellowship has given her the opportunity to experience working in public service sector, as well as allow her to do what she enjoys most: helping other people.
Emma has done many things both inside and outside of school. She has been a volunteer tutor both after school as well as at the Saturday Success School, a program where upper classmen tutor underclassmen. For two years, she has been involved in the Teen Health Advisory Council, which is a teen council located at Health Care For All. This past year, the council produced and hosted a series of live, call-in talk shows, each of which focused on a different teen health issue. The issues talked about were teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, smoking, alcohol abuse, dating violence, and interracial relationships. Last summer, Emma worked on the Boston Public Health Commission’s “Talk Listen” Campaign where she and three other teens wrote articles for their website, as well as serve as the "teen voices" in the advertising part of the campaign. For their work, she and her three peers recently received the David Mulligan Award for Public Service, presented by Mayor Thomas Menino.
Emma is also very active in a number of other areas. She has been a member of the Boston Latin School Show Choir since the tenth grade, and has been taking voice lessons outside of school for the past three and a half years. Emma also saves time for athletics in her life, as she is a member of the Boston Latin Girl’s Varsity Soccer team. She tries to participate in a number of clubs throughout her school as well, including the Italian Club and the Walks for Life Club. In her spare time, Emma enjoys reading, writing and spending quality time with her friends.
Emma’s favorite subjects in school are History and Italian. In her junior year, she enjoyed taking Facing History, where she learned about the unattractive side of the past century of history. She has also taken Italian for four years, and has traveled to southern Italy twice in the past year, including a junior trip of Boston Latin School students to Sicily in April. In the future, Emma hopes to study abroad in Italy because she loves the culture, history, and she has found the locals amazingly enthusiastic about conversing in Italian with her.
There are many things Emma may want to do with her life. Whatever she ends up doing, she wants to make sure she has an impact in people’s lives. Working in the public sector may well be what is best for her. This summer, Emma will be learning about the measures Massachusetts is taking to improve the environment, something Emma feels very strongly about.
Emma Marra’s sponsor is Lauren Liss.