Northwestern Magazine
Senior Watch
More Photos:
Emily Haak

Leader of the Band

Emily Haak spent one summer in Mexico City and another in Mumbai, India, studying each city’s health care system. She’s danced for Dance Marathon and played oboe in various Northwestern concert ensembles. But without hesitation, she says her greatest accomplishment at Northwestern was being named drum major of Northwestern’s Wildcat Marching Band during her senior year.

The drum major, responsible for conducting the group during games, is perhaps most noted for “our famed touch-your-head-to-the-ground backbends during pregames,” says Haak, a self-proclaimed marching band aficionado who played clarinet in the band.

But Haak, a Park Ridge, Ill., resident who majored in cultural anthropology and minored in global health, admits that she had other reasons to enjoy her role. “I love Northwestern football,” she says. “It’s bad for my heart because of all the last-minute finishes. I know it’s cliché, but I bleed purple.”

After graduation Haak hopes to earn her medical degree and then work to improve health care access for the poor and disadvantaged.

— Ryan Haggerty (J07)

Photo by Andrew Campbell