My Swat Story: Emma Morgan-Bennett '20

Her Mother Predicted Her Swarthmore Future

"My mom is a history professor and before I was born, she was called in to be an honors examiner at Swarthmore. When she came here and was walking through campus, the story is that she told herself, 'My child is going to go here.' That was a big joke she told, but what it did do was put Swarthmore on the map for me very early on in the college process."

She's All About Balancing the Student-Athlete Equation

"Being a student-athlete is really central to my identity at Swarthmore, but it's not something that's overwhelming and I appreciate that balance. Volleyball is a sport that I love and I'm so grateful for our team culture. I'm proud of how we're a really competitive program and that we've been succeeding these past few years. At the same time, I really appreciate the freedom that I'm given to do other things besides volleyball that probably make me a better player because they allow me to be well-rounded and balanced."

Interdisciplinarity Brings her Research Interests Together

"I'm an honors candidate for medical anthropology, which is a special major in the sociology and anthropology department, and I'm also a Black studies honors minor. The combination of those two fields segues perfectly into my thesis, which is about contextualizing radical doula work within this moment of the Black maternal health crisis. How are they playing a role as activists and companions during a time that's very scary for Black families that are expecting? Overall, it's been a really beautiful merging of the two fields I study."