Jumping into the Classroom

Emma Klein is making one final jump as a track and field athlete before graduating and setting a high standard for the students she will soon teach.

The standout University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) track and field athlete and elementary education major is among the May graduates of the Class of 2026 and has already accepted a first-grade teaching job near her hometown at St. Joseph, Missouri.

“Emma is truly one of the most incredible people I have had the pleasure to work alongside during my coaching career,” said Clifton Cisar, head coach of Omaha Track and Field. “Daily, she brings intentionality to her training and work alongside an infectious attitude of truly enjoying the sport she has chosen to compete in.”

On the Track, In the Classroom

Her love for teaching is rooted in her life of competition as an athlete. Before track and field, she was a gymnast for 12 years, the sport she credits for excelling at the triple jump category. At age 15, Klein began coaching gymnastics — something she still does — and discovered she loved helping kids grow.

Her senior high school English teacher noticed that spark and encouraged her to pursue education as a career.

“She told me, ‘We really need people like you.’ And that made the biggest impact on me,” Klein said.

That sense of purpose deepened during her semester of student-teaching at Gateway Elementary in Omaha Public Schools. Meanwhile, Klein was still living under the demanding schedule of a Division I athlete.

Her days often started around 5 A.M. She had weights at 6:30 A.M. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, got to school by 8, taught through the afternoon, then drove back to campus for practice.

On the hardest days, the challenge was not just the schedule, but the switch. After hours of teaching, Klein still had to show up ready to train. She remembers one especially chaotic day when unexpected absences left her with about 30 children in the room by herself. By the end of the day, all she wanted to do was sleep.

Instead, she leaned on the goals she had set for her season.

“My goal was to be mindful about what future Emma would be thinking about this moment,” she said. “I told myself, ‘What would future Emma want me to do?’ And I know it’s to lock in.”

That mindset carried her through. Track gave Klein discipline and the drive of doing hard things even when she did not feel like it. Teaching gave her perspective. Each, she said, made her better at the other.

Klein said one of the biggest lessons she has learned as a future teacher is that relationships come first. When a student is struggling, she believes the answer starts with their trust in their teacher.

“It’s important to get down to their level and really just be honest with them, so that they can be honest with you,” she said. “Kids need to know how much that you care about them in order for them to learn.”

Education majors tend to settle on the age level by the time they complete stints at student teaching. For Klein, she loves kindergarten and first grade, where her new job this fall will place her. She is drawn to the foundational stage of learning, when children are first learning how to read, do math, and build positive habits.

Her coaches, too, have seen how she connects with youth. As Omaha Athletics has ramped up hosting, Klein has been a presence for the track program.

“She can connect and communicate so effectively, that almost right away you could see the kids begin to look up to her and want to learn from her,” said Cisar. “I just felt a lot of joy witnessing her cross both of her love for track and education into one area.”

Final Jumps as a Maverick

In the final stretch of the spring semester, Klein is balancing the end of one chapter and beginning another.

She is coming off a terrific year in outdoor and indoor track. In February at the Nebraska Tune-Up, she was first in the triple jump category. While in March at the Central Nebraska Challenge, she entered the top 10 best 100-meter dashes in program history. And at the Pacific Coast Invitational in April, she bested her personal record and now holds the second-best record in program history.

For Cisar, her work has been a joy to watch. Most prominently, he pointed to the Nebraska Tune-Up, a highlight of the indoor season, when she cracked the program’s top jumps — the first UNO track athlete to do so in over a decade. With this, he credited her approach.

“In many cases, pressure and expectations can crack and crumble athletes knowing her indoor career was closing,” said Cisar. “But she channeled her consistent approach of focused aggression and power on the runway with the pure love for the game energy that catapulted her to that mark. Emma just loves to do what she does, and she does it at such a high level. It's a joy to watch”

Now, with graduation approaching, Klein is preparing for another busy milestone. On commencement day, she plans to walk in the morning and then compete at a track meet in Lincoln that afternoon — a fitting final snapshot of a college career spent balancing school and athletics.

Shortly after, she will move back to Missouri to begin her first year in the classroom. She even knows how she will conduct her first days leading a classroom. A telltale sign of a track athlete, she will show the children how to line up.

“If you start at the base and you get it right, then they have that to build on,” she said.