Emma Lemire knows what brings her joy. “I love helping people,” she said, “that’s always been my main goal.” After coming to Slippery Rock University from her hometown of Groton, Connecticut, Lemire developed a way to achieve that goal through her recreational therapy major, volunteer work with local clientele, and a research project working closely with SRU faculty.
Now, as a junior in the recreational therapy program, Lemire is getting recognized for her work on campus and in the community. Lemire was honored as the 2025 Student of the Year for Butler County by the Butler County Health Care Consortium after demonstrating excellence in the health care field.
Lemire was recognized for her work volunteering with a local 3-year-old with cerebral palsy using play therapy and aquatics, and for her research study that involves helping people with Parkinson’s Disease use adaptive horseback riding to address gait, posture, and other fall prevention measures. The research project is under the direction of Betsy Kemeny, professor of recreational therapy.
“Our program is very hands on,” Lemire said. “We have experience working with clients from our first semester, freshman year. I’ve always been very involved in everything throughout middle school, high school, and now college, so the clientele work that I’m doing outside of regular classes is very fulfilling for me, but I never was interested really in research until I came here. When Dr. Kemeny brought this project up to me, I fell in love with it. It gives more meaning to my major and to my life.”
Lemire conducted the research with Kemeny and other students at SRU’s Storm Harbor Equestrian Center with older adults with neurological impairments. A total of 12 participants rode horses once a week for 30 minutes for two months and they were assessed for improvements they made for balance, gait, mobility confidence and more.
Lemire, Kemeny and two other students –– Chase Decker, a junior recreational therapy major from Spring Mills and Alyssa Snyder, a senior recreational therapy major from Leslie, West Virgina –– presented preliminary results from the study at the American Therapeutic Recreation Association conference, Oct. 12-15, in Kansas City, Missouri.
Lemire’s other volunteer work also occurred on campus, as a family with a child that has cerebral palsy was referred to the University from a local hospital. Lemire worked with the child at SRU’s Aebersold Recreational Center and in the Recreational Therapy lab at Patterson Hall for more than seven sessions since the 2023 Fall semester.
“It was awesome, because at a lot of places undergraduate students don’t get experience in the whole treatment process from start to end, and I’ve been lucky enough to get that through the program at SRU with the clientele we work with, through classes, and the research, as well,” Lemire said.
If that wasn’t enough, Lemire is also active in the Recreational Therapy Club, a student organization that provides education, community outreach and professional development opportunities for students in the program.
“Emma is one of the hardest working students that we’ve had,” Kemeny said. “While she is strong academically, she never hesitates to support our program and help others. She displays leadership through her work as a lab and research assistant, a volunteer, and in her role as a leader in the Recreational Therapy Club.”
More information about the recreational therapy program at SRU is available on the department’s webpage.
