Emily Gaw

Salmon enthusiast and student biologist Emily Gaw always finds time to appreciate the bustle of Exeter and listen. After all, observation is how she found her place here—as a prep, she explored the Academy’s academic and extracurricular offerings before she found her passion for science on the second floor of the Phelps Science Center. Now, in her fourth year, she has embraced both her love of scientific research and her desire to affect change in the wider community.When she first entered the Academy, Gaw had a vague idea of what she wanted to explore and wasn’t quite sure how to navigate her interests. “I knew what was important to me but I didn't know where I should take it and what exactly I wanted to do with my life,” she said. During her prep year, Gaw immersed herself in a diverse range of activities, from speaking clubs to ESSO. According to Gaw, the thread that tied these interests together was a desire for social change. “Ultimately I got into the things that I was into because of problems that I saw across campus. All the projects that I’ve done have been based on observation, and then things that I think could potentially help fix them,” she said. However, she resisted focusing this passion on one issue. “There are also a lot of dead ends that I’ve tried that haven’t led to anything, project-wise or club-wise,” she said. “It wasn't so much about finding this subject that was my aim; it was about finding what I like to do.”Gaw is used to observing and reflecting on the problems that plague her. When she lived in Virginia, she recalled men desperate for work chasing after cars to ask for employment. In response, she started a project to create a website to connect employers with employees, inspired by the possible humanitarian benefit. “I remember thinking that must be so humiliating for them,” she said. While the project did not ultimately work out due to liability issues, this was the beginning of her motivation to create change.Gaw then took time to reflect on the world around her, settling on one issue: clean water. “I'm used to seeing images of the children who are drinking polluted water and I just thought that was terrible,” she said. “I never really took initiative until I thought of a filtration system that can be cleaned using only dirty water.”She believes this same path can be taken by others. “Everyone has the ability to make a difference … it’s just whatever [issue] stands out to you,” she said. “I think coming in [to Exeter] I faced a little bit of intimidation and roadblocks, and I felt like I was really lucky to be here, but I didn’t really feel like I belonged at first. I’ve grown older and I’ve taken part in more and more classes now. I feel like Exeter is now my home.”Seeing a need to explore how Exonians communicate and understand each other, Gaw created the Empathy Through Storytelling club in order to prompt members to understand narratives they had never considered before. Typically, attendees are paired up and given a prompt to exchange stories about. One person shares their experience and the other tells their partner’s story back in the first person. “By doing that, and using ‘I,’ it helps the person understand and really embrace where other people are coming from,” she said. Gaw’s compassionate personality also played a role in creating close friendships. Senior Clara Stucke roomed with Gaw their prep year and bonded through Gaw’s sense of humor. “One time, [when] there was a blizzard and school was canceled, we, along with Tia [Stockwell], tried to walk all the way to the [Lindt] chocolate factory, [but] there was two feet of snow. It was so cold we had to stop in different stores along the way, and when we got there, the store ended up being closed. It sounds really bad but we had a lot of fun,” she said.Senior Bianca Lee lived next to Gaw upper year, and would often nap in Gaw’s room or wake her up in the morning. “We have … these little superstitions where we say ‘white rabbit’ every time before every month. We always play 2048 together. When we hangout we either talk about nothing or such deep things that nobody would understand. When we get into really deep conversations, we record [them] because we think that we’ll come up with some sort of philosophical revelation that needs to be recorded,” she said.Meanwhile, senior Erin Ahern appreciates Gaw’s kind and easygoing nature. “When we leave, I’ll really miss her supportiveness. I know that we’ll be able to come back and feel like no time has passed,” she said.Senior Sophia Chang roomed with Gaw during an Exeter trip to Germany and remembers that Gaw took her to find boba when she became sick. “We took the U-Bahn all around and we ended up tracking a store down, but it had closed so we ended up having burgers. We were out for two hours just exploring the city,” she said.Chang also mentioned Gaw’s love for salmon. “I’ve had breakfast with her, and she’ll bring a Tupperware to D-hall. She’ll just put salmon in it so that she can bring it back to her room and put it in her fridge and eat it later,” she said.Senior Sam Weil, a fellow proctor in Dunbar Hall and Gaw’s friend since lower year, described how her friendship with Gaw was catalyzed by salmon. “I vividly remember being really intimidated by Emily because she was always so cool and put together prep year. Then, lower year, when we lived next to each other, I remember going to her room and seeing this Tupperware of salmon that she just pulled out of the fridge, and thought, now I know I want to be friends with her.” Her experience in science was especially facilitated by the courses she took at Exeter, particularly BIO670: Biology Research, where she was fascinated by the practicality of her work towards a cure to diabetes. “That that was one of the things that I will remember the most because we did work on an actual project. We designed primers for PCR and everything,” she said. Robotics was also a formative course for Gaw. Although she struggled in the beginning, she eventually grew to enjoy the challenge. “Going into the course, I had no idea anything about robots, or what the wheels were or how the wheels should turn,” she said. “Robotics really gave me the grit necessary to go through something.”In the future, Gaw hopes to continue with exploring science along with its intersection with other areas. “A lot of the projects that I’ve done, like the filtration project and the worm project, have been interdisciplinary. That’s something that’s really important to me … I want to explore the intersection of science to solve problems,” she said.Looking back on her time at Exeter, Gaw hopes that other students will recognize the supportive community Exeter provides. “Really, no matter what it was that I was scared about, it was completely unfounded. Whether it was making friends with new people, or pursuing topics that I was interested in, just because you think that there are people out there that have ten times the amount of knowledge that you do doesn't mean that you don’t have a right to pursue the subject,” she said. “No one’s going to bite … everyone is really here for you and it’s important to know that.”