ers ports
The Collegiate
33
LOWE FINDS HER WAY
BY ERIC KEPPELER ‘85 It was probably inevitable that Emily Lowe would wind up coaching track and field. Even as an athlete competing in high school and college, she spent her free time looking at event matchups, studying individual strengths and trying to solve scheduling conflicts.
“I found myself thinking that way, hashing things out,” Lowe said. “Even in high school, I would go over the dual meet lineups with the coaches and try and fit the pieces together. Now looking back at that, it’s pretty funny. I always liked that side of it. The wheels were always turning that coaching would be something I’d want to do.” So it’s really no surprise that Lowe wound up as the head varsity coach for cross country and indoor track at St. Joe’s. There have been very few female varsity head coaches in the school’s athletic programs. Vice President of Athletics Brian Anken was glad to hire Lowe, saying that it’s always about hiring the best person for the job. “The St. Joe’s athletic department takes hiring leaders for our athletic programs seriously,” Anken said. “Our goal of providing the best high school athletic experience in Western New York means finding outstanding candidates that share our same vision and philosophy. Although it may be uncommon in the area for women to hold athletic department leadership positions at an all-boys private school, Emily is one of the best professionals in her field and we’re fortunate to have her.” Lowe is a native of Binghamton and a 2009 graduate of Chenango Forks High School, where she ran cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. She was an excellent athlete in an outstanding program with a coach who balanced great expectations with humor.
“Larry Brooks was my high school coach,” Lowe said. “He was a character, so motivating and he always went above and beyond what a coach needed to do. He was very good at getting the most out of his kids. Sometimes when I’m having issues, I still think to myself, ‘What would Larry Brooks do?’ He was definitely a very influential figure.” Lowe ran cross country and track at Ithaca College and graduated in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in speech- language pathology and a coaching minor. She then added a master’s degree from Canisius University in 2018. While working at an elementary school after undergrad, she was assigned as a one-to-one aid for a kindergarten-aged boy who had special needs – and loved it, cementing her desire to change her career track from speech to special education. “The Canisius grad school program was enticing because you didn’t have to have your undergrad in education and I knew I wanted to make that shift into special ed,” Lowe said. “Then once I got here, I really loved the Buffalo area, so I decided to stick around.” After undergrad, she quickly landed a job teaching a self- contained kindergarten through second-grade special ed class at Beyond Learning Center in Depew and has been there ever since. At the same time, she applied for an assistant cross country coach at St. Joe’s and got the job as an assistant to Matt Dow in 2018. She was named head coach of the indoor track team in 2020, but because of COVID-19, her first real indoor season was 2022. A year later, she became head coach of the cross country team as well. She’s also an assistant coach with the outdoor track team. Like anything else, it has its ups and downs—but she’d encourage anyone who’s thinking about coaching to go for it. “ Even if it scares you, if it’s intimidating – just go for it. You’ll find your way.
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