For Lisa Schlansker Kolosek ’87, the Emma Willard School journey began her sophomore year in high school. Her brother Rich switched from public school to Albany Academy, and their parents had come to love the academic environment he found there. 

Herself a public school teacher, Lisa’s mother, Ellen, wanted to find a more engaging academic alternative for her daughter. Although Lisa’s step-cousin, Gail Oliver DeYoung ’53, had attended Emma Willard years before, what truly led the family to consider the school were their conversations with close family friend Adriana Woldring Donnelly ’84. “We went to look at Emma Willard, and I just really saw myself there,” Lisa recalls. 

That first visit to Mount Ida was the start of a generational legacy that Lisa has passed on to her daughters, Ella Kolosek ’17 and Grace Kolosek ’20, and even to Rich’s daughter, Bowe S. ’28. For each of the Schlansker/Kolosek girls, Emma Willard provided a robust experience that gave them a foundation for their futures. 

Lisa Schlansker Kolosek ’87
Lisa spent all three of her years at Emma Willard on the varsity tennis team. She became the index editor of the yearbook, a job which dovetailed perfectly with her extreme attention to detail. Invited to assist with weekend activities by Laura Bedford O’Donnell ’85, Lisa helped schedule the bonding activities that would fill the students’ free time. Lisa studied Spanish with Marilyn Hunter during her time at Emma and even participated in Spanish dance, a class she took in the tennis off-season. “I thought—how great!” she recalls, “Where else in this region are you going to learn Spanish dance?” And she particularly enjoyed the range of art classes available, including weaving and darkroom photography.

Beyond the activities that engaged her in long-lasting friendships, the level of academic preparation Lisa experienced still stands out in her mind. “I think an Emma Willard graduate is universally prepared for what’s next,” she remarks, “I didn’t even realize when I was there, but in particular, I left Emma Willard being a really capable writer, and I see that in my daughters as well.” 

Lisa’s path after Emma took her first to Hobart and William Smith Colleges for one year and then on to Union College. After a brief stint in advertising and public relations, she started working for a gallery in Manhattan and revisited her love for art history. A few years later, she earned a master’s degree in the history of design and curatorial studies from Parsons School of Design and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. 

Over the course of her career, she has curated countless museum and gallery exhibitions, written two books and numerous articles, and given several talks on her research. She now works as an independent art historian, curator, and creative consultant. Recently, she was awarded research fellowships at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the Houghton Library at Harvard University for her work on Emma alumna Parmenia Migel Ekstrom (1926), a curator, writer, and historian in her own right.

Lisa looks back on her time at Emma as the beginning of it all. “There’s no place like it,” she enthuses. “Emma Willard offers such an expansive, profound experience at a very fundamental time in life. I’ve always loved being part of this international, multigenerational community of women. I feel moved every time I go back to campus, walking into the buildings and onto those stairs that have been worn down by the feet of generations of young women—it’s incredible to be a part of that.”

Ella Kolosek ’17
Since childhood, Ella remembered visiting campus with Lisa to see Revels and participate in Reunion. “I remember meeting her friends from Emma and seeing them all interact with each other,” Ella shares, “and that felt like a really special bond.”

Although Ella felt good about her time in public school, Emma Willard had a special hold on her. “When I actually went to campus as a prospective student, there was something about being there that felt unique,” she says. “The energy just suggested it was the right place. Once I was looking at it for myself, not just as a child of a graduate, it felt like an easy yes.”

Ella found her place in Admissions as a tour guide and in leadership as a Peer Ed (now the Wellies, or Wellness Advocates) and Proctor. She co-founded the school’s chapter of National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), co-planned prom, and did a short stint in the Dance Company. “I remember my first year signing up for ten clubs at the activities fair before realizing that was not going to be feasible,” she laughs. Ella also found lifelong friendships within the Class of 2017 (“What team? Seventeen!”) and Emma students from other classes, some of whom she sees regularly and some she looks forward to reuniting with at Reunion in a few years and at a classmate’s wedding this summer.

Ella looks back on the academic transition to Emma as an important one. “You are challenged to think bigger, to think outside of the box, to approach new topics that you haven’t engaged with before. But then you’re also really challenged by your classmates,” she explains. “You enter a room of like-minded individuals, and you’re sitting around the Harkness table together.  Everyone is excited to be there. Though the classes are already more challenging, it automatically gets pushed to a higher level because of the engagement, interest, and intellectual capabilities of everyone in the room.”

Ella graduated from Boston University with a bachelor of science degree from the College of Communication and has just received her master’s in sociology and education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She finds herself ever drawn to education. After working as an admissions assistant at Emma Willard, she now continues that work as an undergraduate admissions officer at Columbia. Still exploring and thinking about the opportunities before her, she returns to her roots at Emma for inspiration. “I think a lot of what I am and who I am and what I do comes from Emma,” she says. “It’s this community that you’re always going to be a part of. I still turn to Mari Webb (admissions event and visit manager), who was my advisor. Every time I go back to Emma, whether it’s with Bowe or just on my own, I feel like I’m home again.”

Grace Kolosek ’20
As a fifth grader, Grace could tell that her sister Ella was passionate about what she was learning and excited by the classes offered at Emma Willard. Through her sister’s experience, Grace was exposed to classes she’d never heard of—she certainly hadn’t considered that classes like neuroscience would be available to high school students! “That, to me, was so exciting—all of these opportunities that you just wouldn’t get anywhere else,” Grace says. “When it was time for me to apply, it was a no-brainer.” 

Grace was a natural leader, becoming a Wellie, then a Proctor, and representing Wellies on Student Council. Phila, the philanthropy club, and being an Admissions EMbassador also filled her time. Even with all of her club and leadership responsibilities, Grace spent the bulk of her free time rowing—serving as captain of the crew team for two years, going to nationals, and investing her Signature project time in fundraising for an adaptive rowing organization in Saratoga. 

As a member of the Class of 2020, Grace and her classmates had the dubious distinction of having their senior year upended at Spring Break, when the nation largely shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They experienced the final weeks of their senior year remotely, including their Commencement.

Even so, Grace was well-prepared for what lay ahead. “There’s a lot of responsibility and agency put on you—in a really positive way—to advocate for yourself and reach out when you need help,” she says of her time at Emma. “They push you to be not necessarily an adult, but a more mature, self-assured version of yourself.” 

From being extremely comfortable talking to her professors to having confidence in communicating her ideas in ways that are “eloquent and accessible,” Grace considers her days at Emma Willard akin to a liberal arts undergraduate degree, preparing her for the master’s-level work of a specialized architectural program. Her Emma experience gave Grace a voice that served her well over her five-year bachelor of architecture program, which she just completed at Carnegie Mellon University.

Bowe S.  ’28
Although Bowe was further removed from the experience of growing up in an Emma Willard household, she, like her cousins, was drawn in. “My earliest memory of Emma is when I went to Ella’s graduation. I was like, oh, wow, look at this big school that I’ll never go to,” she laughs. At the time, Bowe and her parents, Rich and Angie, lived in New York City, and she thought Emma Willard wasn’t possible for her. When the family moved upstate, her perspective changed—now the opportunity to go to Emma Willard was a real possibility. 

“Through elementary school, I was waiting for my time,” Bowe recalls. While waiting, she got her fix at GirlSummer, Emma Willard’s summer experience for 2nd- to 9th-grade girls. Spending time on campus before becoming a student here cemented the connection. Ella, who was a GirlSummer counselor (as was Grace), recalls “little Bowe running around,” saying she was going to be a student here one day and “get to eat in the dining hall every day!” 

In her first year at Emma, Bowe has covered the gamut of sports, clubs, and leadership opportunities. She’s taken an interest in Omega fashion club, Pride, Library Leadership Committee, and serving on the team that contributes video shorts to the school’s TikTok presence. In preparation for future opportunities, Bowe has taken the leadership class, a first step toward applying to become a red-tier leader in the future. A diver, skier, hurdler, and long jumper, she’s earned a varsity letter in every athletic season this year. She also hopes to follow her cousins’ footsteps as an Admissions EMbassador. 
For Bowe, the biggest challenge of being at Emma has been striking a balance between her interests, academics, and building the type of relationships her family has experienced. Early on in her Emma career, she is seeking out extracurricular activities that align with her desire to study film, hoping to work with her friend Dasha B. ’28 to propose an interest group or club focused on film studies. 

As the most recent in her family to find her place on Mount Ida, Bowe was always inspired by the school. “I just love Emma Willard so much,” she raves. “Having such a strong connection with my family has only deepened my love for this school.”  
 

This piece originally appeared in the Spring/Summer 2025 issue of Signature Magazine.