It’s Primetime
Amara Emmanuel Is Ready
“I love being a senior!”
They’re the first words out of Amara’s mouth during her interview for The Flex, and it’s clear she means it. With her perpetual smile and that friendly bounce in her step, Amara Emmanuel ’27 is here to make her mark—and, while she’s at it, make sure those around her feel supported.
“I remember being a freshman coming in and seeing all these giant kids who were way taller than me, and feeling so small,” she recalls of her time starting at Pingry. “It feels full circle helping freshmen find their classes now because in the ninth grade, I came in and I was new, too.” During this year’s first Morning Meeting, Upper School Director Dr. Reid Cottingham encouraged everyone to give the seniors a round of applause, and Amara responded loudly. “I was very excited,” Amara says with a smile, “but also, I gave the freshmen a huge round of applause, too, because I know in the same way I’m feeling excitement, they’re feeling it, too.”
Amara, who participates in Glee Club and the performing arts, and is captain of the Girls’ Varsity Basketball Team, is always at the ready to try new things, not to mention succeed at the things she already enjoys. During her freshman year basketball season, she was called off the bench mid-game. Her teammate passed the ball to her and Amara immediately shot a three-pointer, instantly earning the moniker “Primetime”, a nickname she hears to this day. Her coach, Form III/IV Dean of Student Life Robert Hoepfl, who has worked with Amara for four years, calls her “inspirational.”
“What stands out most about Amara is her energy,” he shares. “She is simply one of the most charismatic, positive, and fun people I have worked with. She makes everyone around her feel important, and her positivity is contagious. Her nickname, Primetime, stems from her being a kid who rises to the moment in front of her. Whether that is on the basketball court, where she hit an incredible backwards lay-up this fall in a close game, or in the hallways, she always is ready to meet any moment.”
Her enthusiasm is infectious, and perhaps that’s the magic ingredient to her being primetime ready, as her nickname signals. “I just love it because it gives me so much confidence now,” she says of the name. “Even in English class, we made name tags and I put Primetime under my name and everyone already knew that was me… In fact, one time we were leaving a basketball game and [my friend’s mom] told me that my dad should get a hat that says ‘Primetime’s Dad’ because so many people call me tat… I do think I embody it in my day-to-day life.”
Dean of Student Life for Advising and Peer Leadership and Upper School Performing Arts Teacher Alan Van Antwerp, who taught Amara in Drama II: Introduction to Acting during her sophomore year, as well as during a summer abroad trip to London and Edinburgh with Pingry’s Global Programs, calls her “one of the kindest students at the school.” As he notes, “Amara ‘Primetime’ Emmanuel is what we hope every student in our class would be like. She is interested in multiple things, from athletics to the performing arts, with a genuine curiosity and passion.”
Amara is one of those people that puts others at ease. If you’re shy, simply stand next to her and watch your social circle expand. “Some people say, ‘when I’m with you, I feel like a celebrity because everyone stops and talks to you’,” she says with a laugh. “So sometimes, I make it easier to just talk to people. I guess the easiest thing you can learn is to just put yourself out there. It never hurts to give a smile.”
She admits that this being her last year of high school still seems surreal. “It hasn’t hit me that I’m doing all my last things: my last first day of school, my last Snowball, my last prom,” she says wistfully. She plans to savor every moment, and is especially thankful to have her younger siblings on the same campus with her, before she goes off to college. “We’re very close,” she says of her younger brother CJ, a freshman, and her sister Oge, who just entered Middle School. Years ago, CJ came up with a name for the close-knit trio: The Three Cool Kids. Amara sees them in the halls, in the Engel Dining Room, and, like a true big sister, she frequently reminds her friends to say hi to her younger siblings so they feel welcome. “I want to make sure my siblings have a great year, too,” she says, “and make sure when they leave they’re like, ‘oh yeah, I had the best time with my sister as a senior.”
Perhaps the most infectious quality about Amara is her unshakeable belief in herself, something she retains even through the trepidation of taking on new challenges. She credits much of this perspective to her surroundings. “I think it’s definitely having a sense of community,” she says. “There are other people who are also trying hard things. I’m not the only one who’s doing something for the first time. I have people to lean on… We’re all learning something new every day. It’s not like we’re doing it on our own. We are all kind of as one.”
She started as an uncertain freshman, and now she’s ready for primetime. “As a senior, I’m very confident walking the halls,” she says with that irrepressible smile. “Because I feel really accepted.”