Junior Emma McCloskey has grown up in Altoona and has many interests. She hopes to travel and continue to grow as she continues through high school.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Paris. Paris was like my big thing since fourth or fifth grade. I just think it’s really cool, and that’s somewhere I really want to be and I could see myself being very happy there,” McCloskey said.

McCloskey is still deciding what career she will pursue.

“Currently I am looking into being a vet tech working with animals. And that’s pretty much what a nurse does in a doctor’s office. So you know, it’s not as much schooling as going for an actual vet. So, vet tech kind of hits all the spots I want, you know, working with animals but not going in to like everything else too much. And it’s either that or definitely probably teaching for like elementary school,” McCloskey said. 

One of McCloskey’s favorite past times is photography.

“I love getting pictures at the football games in the student section, seeing all the friends together and everything. I also love getting sky pictures; I feel like everyone likes getting sky pictures. The perfect way to describe it is people in the moment of a memory,” McCloskey said.

McCloskey has traveled to Florida, Castaway Cay – an island located in the Bahamas, South Carolina, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York and Maryland but has a bucket list she would like to complete. 

“Well, actually, I really want to do a cross country road trip to go, obviously all over the country. I want to go to every state. My older brother did it a couple years ago, and he sent me a ton of pictures. I loved it. So that’s definitely on my bucket list,” McCloskey said. “It could change a lot of things. Where I go to school. Maybe my career because I definitely want to include that in my future a lot, to see so many different places. So it could definitely affect where I end up. It’ll also affect the people I meet.”

McCloskey learned basic photography principles last year in Introduction to Publications and is pushing to advance in the production classes this year..

“It’s hard. It takes a lot of patience you could be there for so long just trying to get the picture you want. I feel like whenever you are taking pictures, more pictures don’t turn out than the ones that do. So it requires a lot of patience to get the good picture you want,” McCloskey said.

McCloskey wants to tell a story with her photographs,

“I honestly think I want to capture that memory in that moment.  I like whenever someone sees a picture and they think wow. I want my photos to convey a lot of emotion. Because I love taking pictures with a lot of emotion. I want to tell a story and to capture a memory people are having if that makes sense,” McCloskey said.