Emma Worgum: Representation Matters

Emma Worgum is a third-year student-athlete on the WWU Women’s Golf team majoring in Urban Planning and Sustainable Development in Western's College of the Environment. Emma is Tlingit and Aleut whose family is originally from Yakutat, Alaska. She grew up in La Conner, Washington close to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community where she learned to play golf at a young age. In this conversation, Emma shares more about her time growing up playing golf, her experiences at WWU, and more about her familial connections in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

This is the third of three profiles of Indigenous student-athletes written by Brandon Joseph in support of honoring Native American Heritage Month at Western. Joseph is the director of Student Resilience for Counseling, Health, and Wellness and the NCAA Diversity and Inclusion Designee for Athletics at WWU. As a Koyukon Athabascan and Muscogee Creek scholar and practitioner, one of Brandon’s focus areas is the historical aspects of Indigeneity and sport, particularly in lacrosse, as well as the experiences of contemporary collegiate Native athletes, and sport as a way to facilitate culture and wellbeing. You can see the first two profiles, on student athletes Emma Smith and Frank Miedema, via those embedded links, or go to news.wwu.edu.

Brandon: How did you decide to major in Urban Sustainability?

Emma: A lot of my cultural values are tied together with sustainability, and what really pushed me to look into that major was a project in my food-security class last year when we got to pick any area of study we wanted to, and make a presentation with a partner. 

I chose thinking seven generations ahead and seven generations behind and it led me to realize a lot of the decisions made now aren't necessarily in that same thought process and a lot of economic decisions or infrastructure decisions and things aren't necessarily made to be sustainable for the next generations. Even just talking with my parents and my mom especially, the difference of what life used to be like then versus now. Or, talking to my grandparents even, that's just two generations. Which is difficult to process because I look at my homelands and I did an amazing internship in Yakutat (Alaska). That's where my family bloodlines are from, and just seeing the difference in - like there's a logging situation there right now, where they've cleared out a lot of the land and there used to be a road that would loop around the entire town, but half of it got washed out and it's completely gone. What happened was the roots help hold together the land. And so, when they logged those out, it got washed away by the current amid the rising sea levels.

Listening to my mom and my aunts’ stories about how when they were my age they would cruise this road and it's just not there anymore. And looking back into my culture, a lot of areas that are culturally significant to us just plainly aren’t there anymore or they’re not in a place where they will be sustainable for two generations or one moving forward.

Growing up in Washington, what has it been like to stay connected to your family in Yakutat and how important is that to you?

I grew up in La Conner alongside the Swinomish Tribe. I have a lot of values connected to the 'Down South' tribes and teachings because my mom worked for the tribe and I was related in that way. They really took care of me as one of their own. I was lucky enough to sit on the youth council with the other Swinomish kids. And I got to go to NCAI (National Congress of American Indians) a couple of times and learn that way. A lot of the tribal leaders were friends with my mom and so they really took care of me.

Unfortunately, it was difficult at times for me to stay connected with my family in Yakutat growing up. I've been so busy with golf and every summer I would be jam packed with golf tournaments trying to get recruited and trying to get into a collegiate golf program because that was my biggest goal, was to get a scholarship and be on a collegiate golf team and go to school and get my education. So, there was sacrifices to be made. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go up there as often as I'd like to learn my culture as much as I would have liked to. But, here I am. I had this great opportunity, and I did this amazing internship in Yakutat. Now that I'm older, I'm getting to learn about my culture, my people and my family more.

What did you learn from going back to Yakutat?

My internship was with the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe. It was with the environmental department and then I hopped around the different areas of it. I worked with composting, the community garden area, and they're starting up this new space where they collect water samples as part of a preventative plan in case anything were to happen, they have the results before.

It was really amazing learning the food resources and systems. It was pretty amazing. I learned about how they used to garden on the shore and they would have these fish traps and clam beds and then the higher you went up, you would grow strawberries and potatoes and different things up on the coast. And then they use the seaweed and shell bits and stuff off of the edge of the water and use that as a fertilizer. And they would get the vitamins and calcium and resources out of that. When you think of fertilizer now it's things you buy in plastic bags and stuff. And it's amazing to think that they already knew what they were doing, they didn't need grocery stores. They used what was there and it worked well for them. It wasn't luck, that's for sure.

Where did you stay while you were in Yakutat?

I had a place with my boyfriend. We rented out this little cabin, which was actually quite a crazy story because my parents stayed in the exact same cabin and it was on this lodging area where my dad was a guide fisherman - he worked for the guide service there and my parents lived there and then the main lodge burned down 20 years ago. And so, they relocated all those little cabins a few miles down to this new development area and it happened to be the exact same one.

Wow...How did you find that out?

My aunt was in there and she was like, I swear this is it. And then my mom came up the last week I was there and she got really emotional. It was all these flashbacks of, 'oh my gosh, this is the cabin.' It was funny because my dad has this collection of these vintage football, NFL glasses. He has a few of them at his house and there was one singular glass left in there. It was still in the cabin and I don't know how it stayed there the entire time. Because we were originally supposed to stay in this larger house but decided to do an apartment style, smaller one-bedroom cabin. And it just happened to be the one.

You said your goals were to always get a college scholarship. When did you first fall in love with golf?

I started playing golf when I was 7. I started out pretty young. I'm a pretty quiet kid. I wasn't the most athletic for other sports. I wasn't the fastest. I couldn't jump the highest. I liked volleyball and basketball, but it just wasn't the best fit. I felt like I was pretty coordinated and so with golf, succeeding that way was easy for me, I guess. I stayed with it and then when high school hit, I had to choose which sports - I also played softball and so softball and golf were the exact same time. And so, I had to think which one am I going to have a future with. Am I going to make it in softball or am I going to make it in golf? 

I went to this college talk, a bunch of us in this youth golf program had a college coach come in and he was like, ‘OK, these are the scores my team has, and they all have college scholarships in golf’. And I was like, ‘OK, well I'm beating these scores right now as a 14-15 year old, so imagine what I could do if I keep going’. And so that was a good pinpoint in my life. My dad was very supportive. He played college sports. And he told me you have a unique opportunity where you could take this somewhere.

Where did you grow up playing golf?

I jumped around courses. I've had some amazing opportunities to practice at a lot of courses. I practice at Swinomish Golf Links. They’ve been really supportive and nice to me there. So, that's my home course. I worked there for a lot of years and I'm also a member at Skagit Golf and Country Club. They've been really helpful to me too. I have gotten to know all the pros at both the courses and they've been really supportive in my career.

How did you get to WWU?

Well, Luke recruited me. And I was like, well, this has a great environmental program and it's close to home. It was just right after COVID and I was feeling a little eerie about moving across the country. I wanted to stay close to family and close with my parents. So I thought it was a pretty good fit here.

He started recruiting me when I was 17 - my junior year. Summer is usually when people get recruited the most. And that was the time I was shooting some good scores. I actually had a tournament every single week of the summer. So I was jam packed. I got to go to the Notah Begay III tournament, which is really cool. I went down to Santa Ana, New Mexico for the qualifier. It was an all-Native qualifier. I got second there and got to go to the Nationals in Louisiana. It was pretty amazing. I got to meet Notah, and that was super cool. I cried (laughing). I always thought to myself, I don't understand why people cry when they meet celebrities. But, it was a big deal for me.

What has it been like being a Native woman in the world of golf?

Like I was saying with my mom working for Swinomish, a lot of times I grew up playing with a lot of Native players. I didn't know any other way because a lot of those tribal leaders - I remember I went to this conference with my mom over in Ocean Shores and they took me out to go play. That was pretty awesome, so I always got under the wing of those guys and I've played a lot with tribal golfers.

But, it feels really good to be out on the field. It's good representation for younger kids. It made me really emotional because my younger cousin, she's Native and she's this super cool basketball player, she's so good and so fast. It made me really emotional that she wants to do golf because I do it and she wants to go into middle school and high school playing golf because there's so many opportunities to get college scholarships and grow the field and get women playing involved and Native athletes in golf. It just doesn't seem like an option as much. It's an expensive sport, but if you can get started in school, the possibilities are endless. Which I think is really nice. I don't know for other schools, but I know my school (La Conner) we had free reign on the golf course. They had free golf clubs that they would let you borrow and help with the coach and asking questions. So if I can do anything, it would be showing that you can do it. 

You are an ambassador for a nonprofit called Rise Above. How did that come about and what do you enjoy about being a part of Rise Above?

They really changed my life about thinking about representation. Jaci McCormack is the founder, an amazing basketball player and one of her main ideas is 'representation matters.' And that's how I got to be a part of it, is because she wanted me to represent golf and be a representation of Native women in golf and playing sports in college. I never thought about it that way. I never thought that it mattered that much, but looking into her message, what would I have thought if I saw more Native girls doing something? As a kid if I saw more people in a greater light would I have been more proud of myself and thought of myself with higher confidence? Because I know I grew up with lower confidence, like I don't belong in a lot of spaces. And you asked that earlier and I didn't know how to respond to it because it's hard to tell people sometimes. Because it's a lot of what you were saying, where a lot of people are surprised, ‘oh, wow, you can actually hit a golf ball, you actually are smart and are skilled at something’. And so, that representation matters.

You mentioned your passion for art. Where does that come from?

Well, my grandma, and my dad's side of the family is very artistic. So a lot of bonding time with my grandma when I was younger is through art. And I really enjoyed it. Like I said, I was pretty quiet so it was nice to express myself in another way. It’s another way to spend my time in life and focus on something and make something come to life. I do a lot of pencil drawings. I got really into it in high school, being able to draw pictures of other things or sitting down and drawing a landscape, which I thought was really fun. To put my own twist on the real world in a different way.

What has it been like playing golf at Western?

Golf at Western has definitely been a growing experience for me because I came from a small school so there were a lot of beginners on my team.  I took it very seriously, because I had that goal in mind; I was always working towards it. Now, I have teammates that I'm trying to compete with, but also I want to cheer them on. And so, it's been fun growing the relationships on the team. And it's been fun actually achieving my goal. I remember my freshman year, I don't know why, but every tournament I always felt the need to tell my coach, this is all I've ever wanted. I swear, I'm going to do good. I didn't even have him watch me because I was so nervous that I was still in recruiting mode and for some reason he was going to boot me off the team if I didn't do well. 

I was constantly putting so much pressure on myself. So now, relaxing a little bit and after a few college tournaments, I can really have fun with it. I even didn't have conversations too much with the other girls I was playing because I was just so 'in the mode.' And so now, just getting more and more comfortable with the idea of this is supposed to be a fun experience and not strictly business.

Golf is such a mental game, what is your approach to the mental side of golf?

Golf is incredibly mental, especially at this level. We're a pretty good team against the other schools in the GNAC. Everything's mental at this point. We all have the skill. I've played with every single one of my teammates and they can shoot under par if they really wanted to. And getting out of your head, it's so hard. I always say in a joking way that I'm a head case – like one thing will go wrong and I'll have to deep dive into my whole swing and sit there on the range for hours and try to figure it out. When like the whole idea was maybe I was just tired that day and maybe my timing wasn't right. I should have just stepped off the course. But, sometimes I just get in my head about it. So, now that I've gotten older and more comfortable, now it's relaxing and knowing when to stop and try something else, instead of grinding that one swing pattern or grinding that one thing, maybe it's just that day and needing to move on. But, you really have to believe and have that confidence within yourself that you're going to hit the fairway or that you can make that putt.

You talk about all of your hard work to get you to this point. When you sit back and reflect on the experience, what does it mean to you to be able to play college golf?

I’m eternally grateful for all the opportunities golf has given me and being able to be good at something and have it take me across the country to the most beautiful places. Like that course in Hawaii we played on was $350 a round. My coach told me this one time and it really sat with me. We were playing over in Coeur d'Alene and I wasn't playing the best and having a hard time, and he looks over and says, you're playing with your childhood friend – her name is Ashley from Saint Martin’s and I've grown up with her forever, playing golf. You're playing on this beautiful course. It's a nice day out. And it just completely turned my round around. I have to remember that sometimes, that quote really stuck with me. You should just enjoy it. You're not going to do well if you're not having a good time anyway.

What are your goals for the remainder of this season and the rest of your college golf career?

Well, over the winter I really want to bulk up. I want to get strong. I'm not the longest hitter on the team, but sometimes I think about how much better of a golfer would I be if I had different shots into the green or if I hit my drive 20 yards further, which completely changes the game. If I could just take my strength and fitness a little bit more seriously over the winter, where would that take me in the spring? And then last year I got second at GNACs in Coeur d'Alene, kind of choked those last couple holes. So, lately my biggest goal has been my mental game. Really trying to get down, what is it about those last couple of holes, or what is it about that last round? Last year I had some really low scores. I shot 68 one day but followed it up a huge score the next day. And the same thing back-to-back at Coeur d'Alene - I shot 69, which was like a record. And then I couldn't follow it up the second day. So, where can I put myself mentally to get past that. Which I feel like I'm getting better. But that's where I'm at, getting number one at Coeur d'Alene. Or, I would like to do well. I would like to follow up a good score with another good score, on a more reasonable goal. Not to be too cocky, but I want to go and win everything. It would be cool to do that. But, we'll see.

Finally, your mother is State Representative Debra Lekanoff. How has she influenced you? And what has it been like to watch her break down barriers of her own?

As a kid, I was always jealous of my mom's work, as any kid would be. Like, she's spending time doing other things, I wish she was with me. But now that I've gotten older, I’m learning how the world works and learning about what is the work that she was actually doing when I was younger. And what she is doing right now is so important. She's trailblazing for Native people everywhere. She's the the only Native representative in the Washington State legislature and that's a really big deal for representation and being the voice that needs to be heard. Historically, the government wasn't built for Native people to be in it. It just wasn’t. A lot of people told her, you're not going to make it, you're not going to get voted in. And it's amazing that she kept through it.

I think a lot of my work ethic and a lot of my drive is from her, and from my dad too, of course. But, just seeing everything that she's overcome to be where she is and succeed and get the things done, her advocacy is important. I think the best thing about her and being in politics, is she's very genuine. When she says she is going to do something, she's going to do it and she's going to do it for the right reasons. There's no ‘I’, when it comes to her. She doesn't think about herself, she doesn't think individually at all. Everything she does is for the people. She's the most selfless person that I know. She's always going to think about how to loop people together and lay things out for others to get things done. 

It's about getting what's right, done.