Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Emily Price, a recent Pike Liberal Arts School, graduate, was honored by the Troy Exchange Club at its May meeting as the 2024 recipient of the Accepting the Challenge of Excellence (A.C.E) award.

The annual award honors students who have overcome adversity to graduate high school and move their lives in positive directions.

Emily expressed appreciation to the club members for the honor of the A.C.E. award. 

“I have learned that being your best self often means embracing challenges and turning them into opportunities for growth,” Emily said. “

This lesson became extremely clear to Emily when she was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).

She was devoted to physical fitness, healthy competition, and community service.

In her early teens, Emily began having excessive exhaustion, lightheadedness to the point of almost blacking out when she stood up and her heart would race. Her symptoms limited her participation in tennis and dance

“I started to become pessimistic and withdrew from my friends and other commitments,” she said. 

Her POTS diagnosis was made after she passed out during a school tennis match. For Emily, the diagnosis of POTs became a call to action, however, she was also advised to reduce her activities, but she took the doctor’s words not as a warning, but as a challenge. Through dedication, perseverance, and adaptation, she adjusted her fitness routines and kept pushing her boundaries. She made a commitment to a healthy lifestyle while nurturing her physical and mental fitness.

This journey with POTS became a pivotal part of Emily ‘story, reinforcing her conviction, that to be your best self, you must persist in the face of adversity, turning challenges into opportunities for growth. The thing I am most proud of is how persistent and unwaveringly determined I was to keep pushing and discover how to manage life with POTS.”

Looking ahead, Emily’s goal is to serve her community through political activity and social engagement.

“During college, she would like to be involved with the student government association and other public service groups on campus. She will pursue a business degree and, possibly, add a political science minor. Her goal is to contribute to positive change through public service.