A bundle of joy
Senior Emma Ostrowski spreads positivity throughout Aitkin High School
By Zack Ehnstrom
Published Jan. 16, 2023
The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Emma Ostrowski is yellow. I think of the color yellow because yellow is a happy color. I sit in class and the first thing I hear is, “Hey Ailie I love your shoes!” The first person to compliment or make you feel good about yourself is Emma. That high, excited voice can be heard from a mile away. If you don’t believe me, in a span of three and a half hours Emma dished out compliments like rapid fire. Eleven compliments to the people she sees all the time. She found different ways to compliment people that she hangs out with all day long. The sound waves travel into your ears and immediately trigger a feeling that tends to be serotonin. You can see people's faces light up after they talk to Emma. Who doesn’t want to be by a person who hands out compliments like candy on Halloween?
Though Emma isn’t large, she is mighty. Standing at five foot and a half inches tall, she’s short and stocky and definitely still shops in the kids' section sometimes. She has long brown hair that’s always down. She usually ties a tiny bit back in a ponytail, but the rest hangs straight down. She always dresses appropriately for what she is doing, usually going above and beyond. She has straight, white teeth and jade-green eyes. Most of the time it’s hard to see her walking down the hallway until you hear her. She makes up for her petite stature with a big personality. Every person I’ve asked has had nothing but good things to say about her. From personal experience, I can only add to the nice comments from others.
She has grown up in a family of five. She has two younger siblings, a sister, and a brother. When I asked her what her favorite childhood memory was, all she said was, “‘Twas good! I don’t know, it was always good.” Her mom is a kindergarten teacher. This is where I see most of Emma's characteristics come to life. As a kindergarten teacher, you need to be patient, kind, sweet, and professional. Emma is an exact replica of that. She is constantly asking people how their day is going and how people are doing. Every day at school, she asks me at least once, “Zack, how’s it going?” She’s always trying to start conversations and stays very focused while you’re talking to her. She has a sixth sense that helps her know when she needs to brighten your day up and she is always right on time.
Emma is a captain of the varsity volleyball team and you can only imagine what kind of a captain she is. Kenzie Hamilton said, “Emma is the kind of captain that tells you that you’re doing great, even if you are doing terrible. She is very enthusiastic, excited, and vocal.” Next, I asked Emma what kind of a captain she is. She said, “I want to be the approachable captain, someone you can talk to when you need it most.” From these comments, I can imagine Emma as the Easter bunny at practice, approachable and cheerful.
As I studied Emma in class I noticed a few things. One, when the class was dull and tired at the end of a long day, Emma found an old football helmet and put it on. She turned to me and told me to hit her on the head. So, I hit her once then Ethan hit her and this started a cascade of events where almost every guy in the class was smacking the top of her head. Throughout this short period of time, Emma was spreading joy to all those around with that silly giggle every time she was smacked on the head. We told her to take it off because it looked like it hurt, but she really wanted to keep it on. I think she knew that she was spreading joy to those present. After about five minutes of constant blows to the head, we finally convinced her to take it off. I’m sure her ears were ringing like massive church bells. The next day, as the entire class was anywhere but engaging in the conversation, Emma was present and alert. Mr. Henke was talking about the chapter we had just read and was asking for feedback. Immediately Emma jumped on the opportunity to be heard. She is the first person to start a conversation, and usually, after she talks, something funny or interesting happens. She’s usually the spark plug to every conversation.
Emma is a character. When I asked her, “What is something not a lot of people know about you?” She replied, “Well, I can fit a whole cupcake in my mouth at once, oooo, my toes turn white sometimes, oh, oh, one more thing, I worked for the police. I went into stores that sell cigarettes and tried to buy them as an underaged individual.” She volunteered for that job for two reasons. One, she thought it would be fun and interesting and two, she wanted to do something to help keep our area safe. She was willing to spare some of her personal time for the well-being of others.
The last time she cried was last Friday, September 23rd. She said she cried because she was overwhelmed, tired, and stressed. She told me, “I just needed a good cry. That was the first I’d cried in a long time. It kind of makes me sound like a wimp, but I’m usually happy!” I asked one of her teammates and best friend Kenzie Hamilton if she had ever seen Emma cry. She answered, “I’ve only seen Emma cry once, that I can remember. That was because she was hurt. I don’t think I’ve seen her cry besides that.” The fact that even one of her closest friends has only seen her cry once lets you know that she is a very positive person.
According to a few of my classmates, Emma was a little bit of a bully back in the day. Several people started blabbing out stories from their childhood. Breanna Hines started by saying that Emma turned to her and said, “Grrr, I just want to throw something right now!” The next thing Breanna saw was a shoe flying in front of her face and hitting Blaise Sanford in the face. Alex Palm remembers back in Kindergarten that Emma made fun of him and made him cry. Alex isn’t known to be a crier. I’ve only seen him cry once and that was when I broke my leg and was carried off the football field on a stretcher. Ailie Kullhem brought up the time when they were playing on the playground. She was running away from Emma and Emma grabbed her hood and choked her. Of course, this wasn’t on purpose, but she used brute strength to win a game. Hannah Slette chimed in a little bit later remembering when Emma was playing guitar and Hannah was singing, Emma whacked her on the head. All of these stories were absolutely shocking to me. I’ve never seen Emma use aggression to harm others. In the grand scheme of things, I know these were probably accidents because I know Emma would never try to hurt someone.
Throughout her life, Emma has been known to be a happy and cheerful person. I totally agree with that, what I have found though, is that she is also human. She cries every now and then and has shown aggression before. She’ll improve your day, but she can also hurt you just like everyone else. Emma is the happiest person I’ve ever met, and if you have any questions about that, she claims the worst day of her life so far is when she figured out Santa wasn’t real.
Published Jan. 16, 2023
The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Emma Ostrowski is yellow. I think of the color yellow because yellow is a happy color. I sit in class and the first thing I hear is, “Hey Ailie I love your shoes!” The first person to compliment or make you feel good about yourself is Emma. That high, excited voice can be heard from a mile away. If you don’t believe me, in a span of three and a half hours Emma dished out compliments like rapid fire. Eleven compliments to the people she sees all the time. She found different ways to compliment people that she hangs out with all day long. The sound waves travel into your ears and immediately trigger a feeling that tends to be serotonin. You can see people's faces light up after they talk to Emma. Who doesn’t want to be by a person who hands out compliments like candy on Halloween?
Though Emma isn’t large, she is mighty. Standing at five foot and a half inches tall, she’s short and stocky and definitely still shops in the kids' section sometimes. She has long brown hair that’s always down. She usually ties a tiny bit back in a ponytail, but the rest hangs straight down. She always dresses appropriately for what she is doing, usually going above and beyond. She has straight, white teeth and jade-green eyes. Most of the time it’s hard to see her walking down the hallway until you hear her. She makes up for her petite stature with a big personality. Every person I’ve asked has had nothing but good things to say about her. From personal experience, I can only add to the nice comments from others.
She has grown up in a family of five. She has two younger siblings, a sister, and a brother. When I asked her what her favorite childhood memory was, all she said was, “‘Twas good! I don’t know, it was always good.” Her mom is a kindergarten teacher. This is where I see most of Emma's characteristics come to life. As a kindergarten teacher, you need to be patient, kind, sweet, and professional. Emma is an exact replica of that. She is constantly asking people how their day is going and how people are doing. Every day at school, she asks me at least once, “Zack, how’s it going?” She’s always trying to start conversations and stays very focused while you’re talking to her. She has a sixth sense that helps her know when she needs to brighten your day up and she is always right on time.
Emma is a captain of the varsity volleyball team and you can only imagine what kind of a captain she is. Kenzie Hamilton said, “Emma is the kind of captain that tells you that you’re doing great, even if you are doing terrible. She is very enthusiastic, excited, and vocal.” Next, I asked Emma what kind of a captain she is. She said, “I want to be the approachable captain, someone you can talk to when you need it most.” From these comments, I can imagine Emma as the Easter bunny at practice, approachable and cheerful.
As I studied Emma in class I noticed a few things. One, when the class was dull and tired at the end of a long day, Emma found an old football helmet and put it on. She turned to me and told me to hit her on the head. So, I hit her once then Ethan hit her and this started a cascade of events where almost every guy in the class was smacking the top of her head. Throughout this short period of time, Emma was spreading joy to all those around with that silly giggle every time she was smacked on the head. We told her to take it off because it looked like it hurt, but she really wanted to keep it on. I think she knew that she was spreading joy to those present. After about five minutes of constant blows to the head, we finally convinced her to take it off. I’m sure her ears were ringing like massive church bells. The next day, as the entire class was anywhere but engaging in the conversation, Emma was present and alert. Mr. Henke was talking about the chapter we had just read and was asking for feedback. Immediately Emma jumped on the opportunity to be heard. She is the first person to start a conversation, and usually, after she talks, something funny or interesting happens. She’s usually the spark plug to every conversation.
Emma is a character. When I asked her, “What is something not a lot of people know about you?” She replied, “Well, I can fit a whole cupcake in my mouth at once, oooo, my toes turn white sometimes, oh, oh, one more thing, I worked for the police. I went into stores that sell cigarettes and tried to buy them as an underaged individual.” She volunteered for that job for two reasons. One, she thought it would be fun and interesting and two, she wanted to do something to help keep our area safe. She was willing to spare some of her personal time for the well-being of others.
The last time she cried was last Friday, September 23rd. She said she cried because she was overwhelmed, tired, and stressed. She told me, “I just needed a good cry. That was the first I’d cried in a long time. It kind of makes me sound like a wimp, but I’m usually happy!” I asked one of her teammates and best friend Kenzie Hamilton if she had ever seen Emma cry. She answered, “I’ve only seen Emma cry once, that I can remember. That was because she was hurt. I don’t think I’ve seen her cry besides that.” The fact that even one of her closest friends has only seen her cry once lets you know that she is a very positive person.
According to a few of my classmates, Emma was a little bit of a bully back in the day. Several people started blabbing out stories from their childhood. Breanna Hines started by saying that Emma turned to her and said, “Grrr, I just want to throw something right now!” The next thing Breanna saw was a shoe flying in front of her face and hitting Blaise Sanford in the face. Alex Palm remembers back in Kindergarten that Emma made fun of him and made him cry. Alex isn’t known to be a crier. I’ve only seen him cry once and that was when I broke my leg and was carried off the football field on a stretcher. Ailie Kullhem brought up the time when they were playing on the playground. She was running away from Emma and Emma grabbed her hood and choked her. Of course, this wasn’t on purpose, but she used brute strength to win a game. Hannah Slette chimed in a little bit later remembering when Emma was playing guitar and Hannah was singing, Emma whacked her on the head. All of these stories were absolutely shocking to me. I’ve never seen Emma use aggression to harm others. In the grand scheme of things, I know these were probably accidents because I know Emma would never try to hurt someone.
Throughout her life, Emma has been known to be a happy and cheerful person. I totally agree with that, what I have found though, is that she is also human. She cries every now and then and has shown aggression before. She’ll improve your day, but she can also hurt you just like everyone else. Emma is the happiest person I’ve ever met, and if you have any questions about that, she claims the worst day of her life so far is when she figured out Santa wasn’t real.