Emma Dunigan, a senior at Delcambre High School, really can do it all. 

Dunigan currently serves as cheer captain for the Delcambre High School cheerleading squad, brass section captain for the Pride of Pantherland marching band, and is one of the DHS powerlifting team’s best performers.

Dunigan is the first to admit that doing so much isn’t easy, giving credit to the support that she receives from everyone around her.

“It really is hard, but I’m so grateful that my coaches and my band director are so flexible with my schedule,” Dunigan said. “If I didn’t have the flexibility in my schedule that I do, I couldn’t do all of the things that I am. I know that if I went to a bigger school, this wouldn’t be possible. I have so much support from everybody, from my coaches to the staff at school and people in the community, too.”

In addition to all of her extracurricular activities, Dunigan also maintains her grades at a high level, with plans to attend ULM after graduation to eventually become a nurse anesthetist.

“Most people ask how I even keep up with my grades. I have A/B honor roll and you have to give it your all,” she said. “School is my main priority and after that I have three other priorities. Last night, I was up until midnight doing math homework. You have to sacrifice some things to be able to do all that you want to do.”

With everything on her plate, it would be easy to expect Dunigan to just play a supporting role in the band or on her team, but she says she is naturally drawn to leadership positions.

“I do kind of seek out those leadership positions. I’m the oldest sister, so I know how to manage everybody,” she said. “If I don’t do it, it isn’t going to get done the right way.”

Dunigan’s band career began in the fourth grade when she first began learning to play the french horn. In seventh grade she joined the marching band, where she added a second instrument, the mellophone, to her resume.

“It’s so fun. It’s a creative outlet for me, in a way,” said Dunigan. “Other people find creative outlets in a lot of ways, but for me, it’s playing music. It’s fun to do.”

She isn’t just in it for an outlet, though, as Dunigan always maintains high standards for herself even in an environment where individualism plays second fiddle.

“In the band, you perform as a group, but for me it’s an individual thing,” she said. “I ask myself if I’m performing well and if I’m doing what I’m supposed to do. There’s also a leadership aspect to it, being brass captain and managing all those people.”

If the band is Dunigan’s creative outlet, then cheer is where she connects to her family roots. With both parents working as cheer coaches, and a father who was a cheerleader at LSU, Dunigan’s path to the DHS cheer squad was set from an early age.

“It’s very fun. Just the camaraderie and the environment, I like it. The squad has grown a lot and more people are trying out for cheer and that makes me so happy because I love cheer,” she said.

Dunigan has earned All-American honors for the past two years in addition to the “Pin it Forward” award at cheer camp last summer. The award is given by a staff member to a camper who displays leadership qualities, goes above and beyond in classes, has a great spirit and displays passion to everyone they meet.

Those qualities are also what makes Dunigan such a successful powerlifter.

After joining the team as a sophomore, Dunigan earned a spot at the LHSAA State Meet for the past two years. Last year’s poor performance was a setback for the senior, who also competes in powerlifting outside of school with Cajun Prep Powerlifting, but the struggles have given her a new motivation to prove everyone wrong this year.

“I didn’t do well at state, I had a really bad meet,” she said of her junior year state meet. “I only made four of my nine lifts, but a couple of weeks later I got to compete at high school nationals and hit eight of my nine lifts. I didn’t place well, but in September I had my first meet where I placed first and that feeling of placing well is so overwhelming, but in a good way. The state meet lit a fire in me. Now I just know that I have to show up and show everyone what I can do. I’ve kept that mentality during my summer meets and I want to be great, so I definitely think it’s going to help.”

As Dunigan settles into her senior year at Delcambre High School, she is beginning to notice the legacy that she will be leaving behind.

“We have two football players who are in the band and they came up to me last year and asked how I do it,” she said. “I told them that you just go to practice and show up whenever you can, even if it isn’t often. Last year was hard for me to manage, I only went to practice once a week, but you have to be able to catch up and do your part. There are so many opportunities for us being at a small school and everyone is going to support you. My little sister is in junior high cheer, junior high band and powerlifting, so a part of me thinks that I had an influence on that.”