TUCSON. Ariz. – MEOW, she hears as she flops herself onto her side and glances at the clock which reads a painful looking 5 a.m.
Emily Gauci has a cat, but Whiskey is not just any cat, he’s the little light of her life, which also happens to be her personal alarm clock every morning. For Emily, a playful, abrupt, and somewhat forceful wake up is exactly what she needs to get her long day started.
Gauci, 19, is a sophomore at the University of Arizona studying journalism whose days consists of writing, reporting interviewing and taking pictures; lots of pictures. With a passion for sports photography, Gauci is determined to turn her hobby into a career.
Although, it hasn’t always been this clear for her. Throughout her time in high school Gauci shuffled from interest to interest.
“I wanted to try and to learn everything, that was my problem,” Gauci said. “Senior year I wanted to be a paralegal.”
With an interest in the world of law, Gauci began investigating college options that would help her reach this goal. But, soon after, she realized that writing 20 page reports was not how she wanted to spend her time in the professional world.
Gauci went through other similar realizations, exploring the options of becoming a medical student, but as she sat in her newspaper class at the end of her senior year of high school it dawned on her.
“This is what I know how to do and this is what I am good at,” Gauci said. “It was right in front of me all along.”
Gauci now had to quickly change her plans to accommodate her new dream, working in the journalism world. Although, this was not the first time that Gauci experienced this type of drastic life change.
Gauci has had to move two different times due to her father’s career, each time having to pick up her life and leave her friends behind.
When her father announced to her family that they would be moving from New York to Oregon, everything she knew would soon change.
“People actually live in Oregon?” Gauci said. “I’m going to hate it”
“Never get too comfortable with where you are in life,” Gauci said.
With this mentality, Gauci learned to adapt easily to different ways of life, something that does and will continue to help her in her career.
As she graduated from high school, her family packed up to move yet again, this time to Scottsdale, AZ. This lead Gauci to the UA, and as she stepped on campus for the first time she told herself “this is it.”
Gauci has embraced her time thus far at the UA, involving herself in what she loves most, sports photography. She is currently working as a photographer for the daily wildcat shooting sports.
Emily Guaci is this weeks campus celebrity because she is a great example for other students to keep persevering. As college students, we are almost forced into picking exactly how our life should go, what our major will be, along with numerous other life changing decisions. Guaci’s story is encouragement that everyone will eventually find their path.
She is in the processes of securing an internship next year with the athletics program on campus, where she will be able to photograph all 20 sports at the UA.
“I don’t mind writing, but its not what I want to do, I just love photographing sports,” Gauci said.
Looks like Emily owes her cat, Whiskey, a big thank you; each day she gets up out of bed, means one more day closer to her dream.