Emma Andres, a senior at Rocklin High School, is preparing to attend her dream school, University of California Los Angeles, with a guaranteed spot on their gymnastics team.

Emma has been committed to UCLA since her junior year after the head coach, Chris Walters, offered her a position on their gymnastics team.

Emma first got interested in gymnastics when she was just two years old.

“My brother did gymnastics and had a birthday party [at the gymnastics studio]. I really liked it there and saw that I could make a lot of friends doing it.” said Andres.

Gymnastics can be a very challenging sport, but to Emma, this is one of the best things about it.

“It’s a sport that really pushes you to your limits mentally and physically. The hardest thing was commiting; I’ve had to go in five days a week, four and a half hours [a day] for pretty much my entire life. It’s been a lot, but it’s definitely paid off.”

While most teenagers don’t think about college until their junior or senior year, Emma had to start looking for colleges before she even got to high school.

“The scouting process was very long”, said Emma. You start looking for colleges in like 7th grade. I had to start picking what colleges I was interested and then start emailing them. You’re supposed to email them from 8th grade up until you are committed.”

“You also have to go to [gymnastics] camps where there are a bunch of college coaches there to assess you and see if you could be a great addition to their schools team…..those were extremely stressful.” said Andres.

Although the process was difficult, it paid off for Emma. After participating in one of their camps, UCLA contacted Emma a week later and offered her a spot on their team.  

“I’m so excited for the big change and meeting new people. The team is so amazing so I’m really excited about that.” said Andres. “Being on the team, I already have a set group of friends, which will be really nice going into college.”

Being a part of this team is a huge accomplishment, and Emma accredits this to her hard work.

“I would say that hard work is the main thing that made all of this possible. It takes a lot of commitment and dedication to get good at gymnastics because you have to go in every single day”

Emma is ecstatic that she is going to attend UCLA, and hopes that her story can show others that through hard work you can achieve your dreams.