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Alumna Spotlight: Emily Theys
5/9/2020 11:43:00 AM | Rowing
DURHAM, N.C. – This week's Duke Rowing Alumna Spotlight features Emily Theys, a 2013 graduate who left the Blue Devils as one of the most decorated members of the program in recent memory.
In her four seasons, Theys garnered All-ACC honors three times and was named a CRCA All-American as a senior after leading the varsity-8 boat to a second-place finish at the ACC Championship. Additionally, she earned All-South Region status as a sophomore, junior and senior.
Since graduating in May of 2013 with a degree in sociology, Theys carried her athletic influence over to multiple positions in the world of sports. Her first stop came in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area, where she fulfilled an ACC Assistantship and worked directly with the support staff for the 2014 Discover Orange Bowl. Theys would then remain on the Orange Bowl Committee staff in a full-time role as an events and operations coordinator for the following year.
And while she recalls a time during her undergraduate experience when she was left wondering what possibilities were out there for her, Theys acknowledges the impact that being a student-athlete at Duke had on her looking into a career in athletics.
"I would say the Duke athletic department played the biggest role in that," Theys said. "There were a lot of great people that helped me get to where I was and [Assistant Director of Athletics for Student-Athlete Development] Leslie Barnes was one of those people. I remember it was probably my sophomore or junior year where I went in her office and I was like 'I'm not marketable. I don't have anything that I can do,' and she was like 'You're a Duke athlete – what do you mean you're not marketable?' She actually pushed me to do the ACC Futures internship."
It was that same open-minded approach that got Theys into rowing to begin with, and ultimately what led her to Duke. Growing up in Stoughton, Wisc., it wasn't until her junior year in high school that she picked up the sport, despite her father, Joseph, competing for Wisconsin as a walk-on. And although most of her coaches – former Badgers as well – tried their hand at getting her to land in Madison, Theys wanted to broaden her scope of opportunities, particularly to where she wouldn't have to worry about a wintery climate interfering with the season.
"Winter in Wisconsin can last until May and you can have sheets of ice on the lake until May," she said. "I was looking to get to a little bit of a warmer climate. A guidance counselor in high school suggested Duke based on what I was interested in. I was blessed enough to have a lot of naïveté going into the process, not knowing how academically rigorous Duke was, where the team was and all that. Once I came to Duke, I really fell in love from the campus and the team, and my decision was pretty much made from that point."
When she did arrive on campus in 2009, Theys had to navigate the initial jolt of being at an academically acclaimed school like Duke. But being surrounded by some of the brightest young minds in the world did not faze her, and her athletic training regimen throughout that summer prepared her to step into a Division I program.
"Having all these really smart people around me really made me adjust the lens I was looking through," she said. "I was that straight-A student in high school at the top of my class, and when you go to a school where everybody is that, you kind of have to adjust your expectations a little bit. Thankfully, I felt really prepared athletically.
"There was a fear of not being in-shape enough that kept me going and brought me into Duke really fit."
That self-accountability, which she carried throughout her four seasons, certainly paid off in the form of personal and team achievements. She looks back on the press release to welcome her recruiting class, remembering how she was not as highly touted or previously successful in her high school career as some of her fellow newcomers. At that point, she could not have predicted the all-conference status that awaited her, or the team emerging as an ACC contender. But her unrelenting work ethic, along with learning under the team's leaders, helped Theys surpass even her own expectations.
"I'm one of those people that just put my nose to the grindstone and I had great mentors and leadership with Rory Erickson-Kulas, who was in the grade above me, and then Alex Japhet, who was two grades above me," Theys said. "Rory taught me to be stupid competitive and Alex taught me how to use my competitiveness to kind of navigate things like going for the national team and being All-ACC."
By the end of her career, Theys could see tangibly just how far both she and the program collectively had come. The Blue Devils placed second overall at the ACC Championship during her senior season, beating Clemson in the process, which seemed like a distant goal just a few years earlier. That performance, to her, served as a culmination of all the hard work and commitment that was put into Duke rowing. According to Theys, one of the most rewarding aspects was gaining the respect that is now associated with the program, and helping Duke exceed any national expectations.
"I think we left the program in really good hands in the classes below us," she said. "I know there were a few bumps after we left, but I think we kind of broke through that glass ceiling of 'This is all that Duke can do,' because they had been successful several years before that but then kind of fell into a rut. It wasn't certainly just our class – it was the classes above us as well, but I think we kind of proved that hard work and a good work ethic will get you pretty far. The current teams are proving that time and time again, as well."
Now seven years removed from her graduation, Theys remains in close contact with several of her former teammates.
"I've kept in contact with Laura Sciarrino, Victoria Tsamis – she's now Victoria Civitillo – and then Sydney Johnson. As we all kind of migrate, we're all at that point of getting married and hitting those major life events.
"When Victoria got married, I think she had at least 15 Duke rowers at her wedding, and it spanned five to six years. It's crazy how you can pick up as if you just saw them the other day."
Following her time with the Orange Bowl staff, Theys narrowed her goals to working more directly with students, hoping to find a similar role to Barnes' at Duke. She would go on to spend three years at Clemson, working as an assistant director of club sports and then serving as club sports coordinator. In that capacity, she helped manage, plan and organize events for the university's 34 club programs. It was there where she learned that her passion came in helping students, even if it wasn't directly in varsity sports.
She now works at East Carolina University, serving as the coordinator for graduate and professional student engagement. According to her, the role has shown itself to be the best fit for her, and she said that she has been "Happy in each position and I've gotten happier in each position as well." One aspect of the job is that the position did not exist before she arrived, allowing her to create events and programs that students had never experienced. And while planning homecoming week was thought to be her next big challenge, like many others, the current global pandemic inserted its own set of obstacles for Theys to overcome.
"It throws a little wrench in because my whole philosophy behind the events and programs that I run is that we're trying to pull students out of their silos and get them meeting other students so they realize that grad school isn't this isolating experience," she said. "When you can't do that, it makes things really hard. We tried to create some events and programs that are mimicking. We've done some to-go kits where we had an event planned like a cooking class, and the local restaurant created a bunch of to-go kits where they could make a pizza at home. My colleagues within student activities have done a lot of neat virtual programs like online trivia, caricature artists and things like that."
Theys acknowledged that her and the rest of the staff can only do their best to ensure some type of memorable experience during uncertain times. However, it is nothing that Theys cannot rely on her own mentality for – a mentality that was established in her time spent in Durham. It is how to navigate the difficult times, and how to persevere through conflict, that Theys takes away more than anything as a member of the Duke rowing family.
"I would say with both Duke rowing and Duke as a whole, I had to learn how to be a smart competitor," she said. "I've taken that and I've kept that competitiveness up throughout searching for jobs and what I do in my everyday life. I also think one thing that Duke taught me very well, and it took me all four years to learn, is that humbleness. You're not always going to win, you're not always going to get that job or you're not always going to work in what you thought you were going to work in. I was humbled time and time again by teammates, by results, by things I think I should've done better on, and I think it's just a friendly reminder that there's going to be challenges, but ultimately your team has your back. You might leave Duke and not get those teammates anymore, but if you find that support system in life, they'll have your back when those humbling moments happen."
#GoDuke
In her four seasons, Theys garnered All-ACC honors three times and was named a CRCA All-American as a senior after leading the varsity-8 boat to a second-place finish at the ACC Championship. Additionally, she earned All-South Region status as a sophomore, junior and senior.
Since graduating in May of 2013 with a degree in sociology, Theys carried her athletic influence over to multiple positions in the world of sports. Her first stop came in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area, where she fulfilled an ACC Assistantship and worked directly with the support staff for the 2014 Discover Orange Bowl. Theys would then remain on the Orange Bowl Committee staff in a full-time role as an events and operations coordinator for the following year.
And while she recalls a time during her undergraduate experience when she was left wondering what possibilities were out there for her, Theys acknowledges the impact that being a student-athlete at Duke had on her looking into a career in athletics.
"I would say the Duke athletic department played the biggest role in that," Theys said. "There were a lot of great people that helped me get to where I was and [Assistant Director of Athletics for Student-Athlete Development] Leslie Barnes was one of those people. I remember it was probably my sophomore or junior year where I went in her office and I was like 'I'm not marketable. I don't have anything that I can do,' and she was like 'You're a Duke athlete – what do you mean you're not marketable?' She actually pushed me to do the ACC Futures internship."
It was that same open-minded approach that got Theys into rowing to begin with, and ultimately what led her to Duke. Growing up in Stoughton, Wisc., it wasn't until her junior year in high school that she picked up the sport, despite her father, Joseph, competing for Wisconsin as a walk-on. And although most of her coaches – former Badgers as well – tried their hand at getting her to land in Madison, Theys wanted to broaden her scope of opportunities, particularly to where she wouldn't have to worry about a wintery climate interfering with the season.
"Winter in Wisconsin can last until May and you can have sheets of ice on the lake until May," she said. "I was looking to get to a little bit of a warmer climate. A guidance counselor in high school suggested Duke based on what I was interested in. I was blessed enough to have a lot of naïveté going into the process, not knowing how academically rigorous Duke was, where the team was and all that. Once I came to Duke, I really fell in love from the campus and the team, and my decision was pretty much made from that point."
When she did arrive on campus in 2009, Theys had to navigate the initial jolt of being at an academically acclaimed school like Duke. But being surrounded by some of the brightest young minds in the world did not faze her, and her athletic training regimen throughout that summer prepared her to step into a Division I program.
"Having all these really smart people around me really made me adjust the lens I was looking through," she said. "I was that straight-A student in high school at the top of my class, and when you go to a school where everybody is that, you kind of have to adjust your expectations a little bit. Thankfully, I felt really prepared athletically.
"There was a fear of not being in-shape enough that kept me going and brought me into Duke really fit."
That self-accountability, which she carried throughout her four seasons, certainly paid off in the form of personal and team achievements. She looks back on the press release to welcome her recruiting class, remembering how she was not as highly touted or previously successful in her high school career as some of her fellow newcomers. At that point, she could not have predicted the all-conference status that awaited her, or the team emerging as an ACC contender. But her unrelenting work ethic, along with learning under the team's leaders, helped Theys surpass even her own expectations.
"I'm one of those people that just put my nose to the grindstone and I had great mentors and leadership with Rory Erickson-Kulas, who was in the grade above me, and then Alex Japhet, who was two grades above me," Theys said. "Rory taught me to be stupid competitive and Alex taught me how to use my competitiveness to kind of navigate things like going for the national team and being All-ACC."
By the end of her career, Theys could see tangibly just how far both she and the program collectively had come. The Blue Devils placed second overall at the ACC Championship during her senior season, beating Clemson in the process, which seemed like a distant goal just a few years earlier. That performance, to her, served as a culmination of all the hard work and commitment that was put into Duke rowing. According to Theys, one of the most rewarding aspects was gaining the respect that is now associated with the program, and helping Duke exceed any national expectations.
"I think we left the program in really good hands in the classes below us," she said. "I know there were a few bumps after we left, but I think we kind of broke through that glass ceiling of 'This is all that Duke can do,' because they had been successful several years before that but then kind of fell into a rut. It wasn't certainly just our class – it was the classes above us as well, but I think we kind of proved that hard work and a good work ethic will get you pretty far. The current teams are proving that time and time again, as well."
Now seven years removed from her graduation, Theys remains in close contact with several of her former teammates.
"I've kept in contact with Laura Sciarrino, Victoria Tsamis – she's now Victoria Civitillo – and then Sydney Johnson. As we all kind of migrate, we're all at that point of getting married and hitting those major life events.
"When Victoria got married, I think she had at least 15 Duke rowers at her wedding, and it spanned five to six years. It's crazy how you can pick up as if you just saw them the other day."
Following her time with the Orange Bowl staff, Theys narrowed her goals to working more directly with students, hoping to find a similar role to Barnes' at Duke. She would go on to spend three years at Clemson, working as an assistant director of club sports and then serving as club sports coordinator. In that capacity, she helped manage, plan and organize events for the university's 34 club programs. It was there where she learned that her passion came in helping students, even if it wasn't directly in varsity sports.
She now works at East Carolina University, serving as the coordinator for graduate and professional student engagement. According to her, the role has shown itself to be the best fit for her, and she said that she has been "Happy in each position and I've gotten happier in each position as well." One aspect of the job is that the position did not exist before she arrived, allowing her to create events and programs that students had never experienced. And while planning homecoming week was thought to be her next big challenge, like many others, the current global pandemic inserted its own set of obstacles for Theys to overcome.
"It throws a little wrench in because my whole philosophy behind the events and programs that I run is that we're trying to pull students out of their silos and get them meeting other students so they realize that grad school isn't this isolating experience," she said. "When you can't do that, it makes things really hard. We tried to create some events and programs that are mimicking. We've done some to-go kits where we had an event planned like a cooking class, and the local restaurant created a bunch of to-go kits where they could make a pizza at home. My colleagues within student activities have done a lot of neat virtual programs like online trivia, caricature artists and things like that."
Theys acknowledged that her and the rest of the staff can only do their best to ensure some type of memorable experience during uncertain times. However, it is nothing that Theys cannot rely on her own mentality for – a mentality that was established in her time spent in Durham. It is how to navigate the difficult times, and how to persevere through conflict, that Theys takes away more than anything as a member of the Duke rowing family.
"I would say with both Duke rowing and Duke as a whole, I had to learn how to be a smart competitor," she said. "I've taken that and I've kept that competitiveness up throughout searching for jobs and what I do in my everyday life. I also think one thing that Duke taught me very well, and it took me all four years to learn, is that humbleness. You're not always going to win, you're not always going to get that job or you're not always going to work in what you thought you were going to work in. I was humbled time and time again by teammates, by results, by things I think I should've done better on, and I think it's just a friendly reminder that there's going to be challenges, but ultimately your team has your back. You might leave Duke and not get those teammates anymore, but if you find that support system in life, they'll have your back when those humbling moments happen."
#GoDuke
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