As the spring semester winds down, senior student-athletes reflect on their last four years at Shippensburg University. For SU women’s tennis player Emilie Luttman, the end is bittersweet, but her time at SU is something that she will cherish.

“It is bittersweet that I am coming to the end of my senior season,” Luttman said. “The four years have just been an incredible learning experience and a great way to have spent my college career. It is sad that I will be leaving, but I keep trying to remind myself not to cry because it’s over, but to smile because it happened.”

Luttman leaves SU having won 20 singles matches and 16 matches in doubles play, completing a run as one of the most successful Raiders to take the court in the last 10 years.

The senior captain helped spark a turnaround alongside new head coach Emily Maerz. A new mindset focusing on effort and strategies helped turn the team around, as SU finished one win shy of the 2017 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) playoffs. Luttman was also honored as PSAC Tennis Athlete of the Week this season — an honor no SU player has won in more than 10 years.

“It was unexpected certainly, but it was an honor considering it was the first time in 10 years a Raider tennis player has won the award,” Luttman said. “It is absolutely amazing. It’s pride for the university, the athletic department, my teammates, myself and to coach. It’s been phenomenal.”

While graduating, Luttman leaves behind her captaincy, something she hopes that her teammates will remember her by.

“Knowing, as the leader for us, to be successful we would have to embrace the new changes and for me to be the example to my teammates was huge,” Luttman said. “I hoped to set that example for them to follow and other things like that.

“Leaving that legacy, knowing that especially for the freshman, that they will remember who their first captain was. They will remember some of the lessons I hopefully taught them, I hope so at least. Even for whoever is the next captain, to set an example for her as well.”

While Luttman is extremely talented on the court, she is equally as talented off the court. In her time as an undergraduate student at SU, Luttman has conducted two major research projects.

The first project was an avian biodiversity analysis, while the second was an analysis of crow geographical patterns during the winter months in the Cumberland Valley, Luttman said. Luttman discovered there are more than 48 different species of birds on campus at SU, and is set to present her findings on crow geographical patterns at the Minds @ Work conference. She received a certification in GIS Technology in December.

Luttman took time to thank the people who have supported her, acknowledging her parents, her teammates and her professors, including professors Todd Hurd and Nathan Thomas. Luttman also thanked her fiancé Bryant Snyder, as well as many others.

After graduation, Luttman will attend graduate school. She currently has a couple acceptance letters on the table and will look at her options to choose a school, according to Luttman. Luttman hopes to work as a wildlife biologist, where she could continue to study birds.

With extremely high goals and her strong ambitions, Luttman has set the bar for success.

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