{"id":60325,"date":"2026-01-06T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=60325"},"modified":"2026-01-06T10:36:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T15:36:56","slug":"incoming-athlete-says-faith-led-her-right-to-emu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/incoming-athlete-says-faith-led-her-right-to-emu\/","title":{"rendered":"Incoming athlete says faith led her right to EMU\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Prospective students choose a college for many different reasons. For <strong>Reese Fitton<\/strong>, a senior standout on the Luray High School volleyball team, faith led her right to EMU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy faith is extremely important to me and was the biggest deciding factor in choosing a college,\u201d said Fitton, a member of Divine Unity Community Church in Harrisonburg. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to go to a big party school, but instead wanted to grow in my faith and use my testimony to inspire others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fitton, who enjoys leading Bible studies, praying over people, and bringing others to Christ, said she\u2019s excited to become a part of EMU campus ministries this fall. \u201cEMU offers campus worship, Bible studies, and more opportunities that you can\u2019t find on other campuses,\u201d she said. \u201cMany players on the volleyball team also openly express their passion for Christ, which is important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The volleyball star was named Region 1B Player of the Year and received honors as a first team selection at the All-District, All-Region, and All-State levels this past season. She will play for the Royals this fall and said Coach <strong>Casey Steinbrecher <\/strong>was another major reason for her choosing EMU.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI remember one of my first conversations with him, he just wanted to get to know me outside of volleyball,\u201d Fitton said. \u201cOther coaches wanted to know my interests and that kind of thing, but Casey stuck out to me by wanting to get to know what my family was like, my background, and more before getting to know me as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When she\u2019s not on the court, she plans to pursue a bachelor\u2019s degree in business management. She said she will graduate high school with a cosmetology license and plans to earn her esthetician license either during or after college. Eventually, she said, she hopes to own and manage her own spa.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A \u2018life-changing\u2019 opportunity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Fitton said her decision to attend EMU \u201cfelt right.\u201d When she visited the campus early last year, she was struck by everyone\u2019s friendliness toward her. \u201cEveryone I walked past asked me how I was, without even knowing me,\u201d she said. \u201cThe atmosphere on campus is refreshing. It\u2019s quiet and peaceful while also being welcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She said she looks forward to forming close connections with classmates and professors and taking advantage of EMU\u2019s distinctive intercultural program. \u201cI love to travel and expand my understanding of the world,\u201d Fitton said. \u201cI believe an experience to study abroad is life-changing and opens doors for opportunity. When I visited, I knew EMU was a place I could see myself for the next four years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read more<\/strong> <strong>about Reese<\/strong><br \/><em><a href=\"https:\/\/pagevalleynews.com\/fitton-named-region-1b-player-of-the-year-and-headed-to-emu\/\">Page Valley News<\/a><\/em>: Fitton named Region 1B Player of the Year and headed to EMU<br \/><em><a href=\"http:\/\/dnronline.com\/sports\/level\/high_school\/bull_run_district\/luray\/athlete-spotlight-lurays-reese-fitton-used-faith-love-to-lead-team-during-special-season\/article_39423907-5f9c-55a1-b08f-8387eb70053f.html\">Daily News-Record<\/a><\/em>: Luray&#8217;s Reese Fitton used faith, love to lead team during special season<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prospective students choose a college for many different reasons. For Reese Fitton, a senior standout on the Luray High School volleyball team, faith led her right to EMU. \u201cMy faith <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/incoming-athlete-says-faith-led-her-right-to-emu\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Incoming athlete says faith led her right to EMU\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":60326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4516,5583,17562,4513,14139,5634],"tags":[14135,18753,17217,17968,11325,18709,10945,6360,14346],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-60325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","category-campus-community","category-digest","category-student-life","category-student-profiles","category-womens-volleyball","tag-athletics","tag-bible-studies","tag-campus-ministries","tag-casey-steinbrecher","tag-faith","tag-reese-fitton","tag-students","tag-volleyball","tag-womens-volleyball","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Incoming athlete says faith led her right to EMU\u00a0 - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/incoming-athlete-says-faith-led-her-right-to-emu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Incoming athlete says faith led her right to EMU\u00a0 - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prospective students choose a college for many different reasons. For Reese Fitton, a senior standout on the Luray High School volleyball team, faith led her right to EMU. \u201cMy faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/incoming-athlete-says-faith-led-her-right-to-emu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-06T15:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-06T15:36:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/01\/05135630\/571149817_1318967616688592_211152468493932469_n.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"780\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ryan Cornell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ryan Cornell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/incoming-athlete-says-faith-led-her-right-to-emu\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/incoming-athlete-says-faith-led-her-right-to-emu\/\",\"name\":\"Incoming athlete says faith led her right to EMU\u00a0 - 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