It is said that four years of college can fly by in a blink of an eye. A student comes in as a small wide-eyed freshman, not knowing what to expect out of college. But a second later, one is walking across the stage as a senior, accepting a diploma and heading into the “real world,” which can be seen as a scary place. 

However, senior golfer Emily Street is taking this in stride as she prepares to begin a completely new part of her life. She will soon wrap up her collegiate golfing and scholastic careers at State. 

“I am really excited,” Street said. “I had a pretty good senior year. It has been a lot of fun, and the girls have been great this year. I am looking forward to graduation and ready to start a new chapter in my life.”

As Street looks towards graduation and the real world, she does not foresee playing golf as a profession but hopes to find a job where she can interact with people. 

“I don’t really know what I want to do,” Street said. “Hopefully banking. I have applied to a lot of banking positions, relationship management and communication. I always have to be talking, but anything where I am interacting with people works. And hopefully I will be able to play golf. I don’t want to play professionally but I still want to continue to play.”

But before Street turns the page,  she has some unfinished business at State. She hopes she can improve her game and help lead the team into a strong finish for the rest of the season and hopefully into  regionals. 

“We have some big tournaments coming up,” Street said. “We have ACCs in Greensboro again. Hopefully we can play good in those and drop our rank some more so we can be secure in regionals.”

The senior from Forest City, N.C. has had an outstanding career for the Pack. She has compiled 13 top-20 finishes, including three from this season, and is currently second in State’s record books with a 76.1 stroke average. Street also recorded three top-10 finishes, including a sixth place finish in her junior season. 

After such a memorable career, her teammates and coaches will miss her golfing ability and competitiveness. But the thing that may be the most missed is Street’s comedic relief, which her coach says helps to cut the tension among the players. 

“We have four seniors this year and they all bring a little something different,” coach Page Marsh said. “Emily is always a very good competitor and likes to compete, and she also is your comic relief. You always need one person in that group that relieves the stress. Laughter always helps and she does it.”

Marsh pointed to one of her favorite comedic incidents, which naturally included Street. 

“One time she told a story how she hit a drive and it hit a green stake near the cart path and it hit that and bounced backwards,” Marsh said. “We always laugh at that because she claims it was a negative yardage drive. Through the years you always have people claim they had the par of the day, or par of the century and she is like ‘I have the shortest drive of the century.'”

As Street looks back on her career, she does not believe she has any regrets and she feels she took advantage of every advantage she had to improve her game. But she will miss the competitiveness of the sport. 

“I have practiced, took every advantage I could of every opportunity. I have had a great four years and did everything possible to make it the best,” Street said. “But I will miss the competition. I will never have the competition of Division I and ACC competition.” 

Street credits the success she has experienced over the four years at State to the fact that she has simplified her game more and focused more on hitting it straighter instead of further, which she said made her a more consistent golfer. 

“In junior golf I was a really long hitter,” Street said. “But now I am a lot more consistent. I don’t hit my eight iron 135 anymore, but I hit it 120 but consistently straight. It’s not 20 feet right or left.”

On the course, the senior is not the flashiest player around. She does not go out and make a ton of birdies, but instead focuses on making pars. Street calls her game  “boring,” but her coach believes her style is what makes her a special player.

“Emily grinds out the pars,” Marsh said. “She is not an explosive player who might have a bunch of birdies and pars. But she will be on the leader board at a tournament because of the number of pars she has. You play with what you have at the time and you make the most of it, and Emily maximizes her game and skill. Along the way, she makes it fun for other people.”