Senior gymnast Emily Basara has been a staple of NIU’s gymnastics team for the past four years. The gymnast sat down with the Northern Star to discuss senior night, her athletic career and her life outside of gymnastics.

Now that it’s in your rearview, what did senior night mean for you?

Senior night was great. It was really cool because it was a bittersweet way to look back at the past four years and just remember the stuff we’ve done as a team and the stuff I’ve accomplished individually. It was kind of sad looking back at it, understanding that my gymnastics is almost over. But, it was also just a really cool way to celebrate with the team over the past four years and all the milestones we’ve reached. The meet itself probably didn’t go as we planned as a team. I think we were kind of hoping for a more successful team score, but the fact that we won and the fact that we were able to still have a blast during the meet and just go out during our thing, it was really great to end our last regular season meet.

Ashley, Anna and Paige, what does it mean for you to be able to go through the journey these past four years with them by your side?

Coming in as a freshman, I didn’t know any of the girls and we’ve just grown to become the best of friends. They’ve been there for me through every injury I’ve been through, every success, every failure and we’ve just been with each other through it all. To have those three other girls by my side, it was just really special and something I don’t think that the four of us will forget it.

Your career gymnastics career got off to a rocky note with the torn ACL your first year. How did they help you out through the process and what challenges did you face?

When I originally tore it, I was kind of in a darker place because everybody when they get a scholarship and go to the university, you want to come out with a bang in a be a freshman that contributes. When that was kind of taken away, I was really upset, but I think watching my other three classmates kind of go to the freshman year really motivating me and pushing me to get better and stronger. Their positive attitudes and willingness to help me any way they could; they would constantly help me around campus whether it was giving me a ride on my crutches or helping me through any kind of therapy, they were there every step of the way. Page introduce me to athletes in action, which is a Christian student organization on campus, and that really change my life because it gave me a new perspective that gymnastics isn’t everything and that God is more important than anything.

Now that you’ve been through it, what advice would you give to a younger athlete you suffered a major injury like you did?

Number one, everything happens for a reason. Whether it that you need to take a step back and realize what’s really important in life, or whether you really need to understand what a hardship is and to go through that and make yourself a stronger person at the end of it. Any injury, for the most part, curable. No matter how long term the injury is, it’s going to make you stronger, it’s going to make you a better person and a better athlete. I would say to just keep pushing forward one day at a time and understand it happens for reason.

You still have the MAC Championships hosted in the Convocation Center. How did that help with not becoming too sad about senior night?

I think it’s super awesome because one of the parts of senior night is it’s usually your last meet at home and the last time you’ll be able to compete in the Convocation Center. Knowing that we have the MAC championships, and knowing that we have at this giant, super exciting meet in our home field is super cool.

Outside of gymnastics, what’s something unique about yourself that many people may not know?

I love to paint. It kind of started my freshman year because I couldn’t do gymnastics, I picked up painting randomly. I’m super into painting on canvas. I do smaller paintings and the bigger ones for family members, but that’s kind of a de-stressor for me that I really enjoy.

Do you have a favorite painting of your own?

One of my favorites that I’ve ever done is a painting of a lion’s mane. I painted that for my fiancé, Ryan, because he loves lions, so I painted that for Christmas for him one year.

How did the whole engagement with Ryan come together?

It was this past summer and Ryan was going back for his last semester of football. Every year his family, because he had to go back so early, they throw an end of the summer barbecue type deal. We went and he has these adorable nieces and nephews, so when I walked into his house I asked “where are all the kids at?” and they were in the backyard playing. Ryan has a giant backyard. There’s this kind of a balcony type thing, and so when I was looking for the kids in the backyard he brought me around and the balcony was decorated with flowers, a really cute sign and all the kids were standing by it so he led me over to the beautifully decorated balcony, and he proposed to me and of course I said because he is my person. After that my entire family and his entire family popped out of the bushes and surprised me even more. I was just a huge mess, I was crying for like five hours because I was so happy.

How’d you and Ryan meet?

Athletes in Action, the Christian student-athlete organization. We actually met my freshman year, but we didn’t start talking until the end of my sophomore year. I just always had a giant crush on him and he didn’t know that. Finally, at the end of sophomore year I just went up and started talking to him, and the rest is history.

Related: Get to know gymnast Anna Martucci