Along with the handful of seniors that Mexico girls soccer has this season, there is one more.

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Emma Leigh Azdell passed away at the age of 15 three years ago, making this her senior season, but it is clear to her teammates, coaches and family that her memory lives on.

Her parents, Jeremy and Audrey Azdell, have appeared the last few years during a selected home game in the Lady Bulldogs’ schedule to accept a donation check to the Emma Azdell Scholarship Fund, which has existed for three years to give back to Mexico students and the community.

“At the time the community received news of her death, it was an overabundance of donations, funeral costs or loss of employment wages and things like that,” Audrey Azdell said. “At the time, it wasn’t really financially needed for us to cover the funeral expenses so we decided to create the Emma scholarship fund to be able to give back to the community here within Mexico and the school district.”

Azdell said about $30,000 trickled in from the community two months after her death, which she and Jeremy matched, and the fund has grown every year because of donations made through deposits at United Credit Union in Mexico and through sales from T-shirts by the girls soccer team. Azdell said the shirts are made by Graphitti and are, oftentimes, Emma’s favorite color of blue.

The first two years, Azdell said two awards of $1,500 were given out but three will be given out during the scholarship ceremony in mid-May – May 16 – since this year would have been Emma’s senior year. Azdell said the goal is to award a pair of $1,500 scholarships for at least 20 more years. It’s like Emma is uplifting her fellow students as she did when she was alive.

“Emma was always making everybody feel like they were accepted and always went out of her way to talk to someone who didn’t have the amount of friends or just feeling upset,” Azdell said.

Azdell said, while students don’t have to meet all the criteria, the committee considers candidates who have been involved with girls and boys soccer and with band – since Emma participated in both – and own a minimum of a 3.2 GPA. Character, however, is a really big factor.

Dusty Blue is part of the selection committee and someone that Azdell said set up the fund after coming up with the idea when she and Jeremy didn’t know what to do with all of the money. Emma’s former soccer coaches, Haley Schafer and Sarah Olson, are also involved in the discussions to help her and Jeremy.

Olson said the Lady Bulldogs raised $265 from T-shirt sales this season and are happy to do so every year for the “kind, genuine person” she remembers coaching up until her passing in 2021.

“That was a tough year for us as a program as COVID was the year before,” Olson said. “We had graduated like 17 or 18 seniors. I wasn’t quite a coach then, but we were just completely rebuilding. We were getting mercy-ruled right and left, but I just remember her and other girls having good attitudes. No matter whether we would be losing, she would say something funny, she was always smiling and positive, and she just worked hard.”

Olson said having that warm and uplifting character has always been part of the program’s identity and has become even more important after they met Emma. Along with the plaque that is displayed at the Chris Hotop Field gate, the Lady Bulldogs give out an award at the end of the year to someone who embodies Emma’s character.

“It’s an award in her honor,” Olson said. “It’s obvious we’re not competing at the state level, but to have a good attitude and have fun and who you are a person matters more than who you are as a soccer player.”

Seniors Liz Joiner, Jamilet Medina and Katie Gooch were not only Emma’s teammates but her friends and agree her spirit resonated strongly with them and still does today.

“She always had a positive spirit, even if we were losing 7-0 in the second half,” Joiner said. “She was always being positive, had full energy the whole time, and even if she was not playing much, she was always happy. She had positive energy towards everyone, and she brought everyone’s spirit up.”

“She really helped me out and was the reason why I decided to play soccer in the first place.” Medina said. “She was just an awesome person and really helped everybody and really cared about everybody. She truly was a great person.”

“I don’t think, in all of the time I talked with Emma, I’ve never heard her say anything bad about anyone,” Gooch said. “That’s what makes her so different from everybody. She was just always so positive. She always had a smile on her face, she talked to everybody and had a really great personality. You don’t find that a lot.”

Azdell said Emma had certain activities she enjoyed doing but more so with friends. Emma loved to ride ATVs and four-wheelers and camp as a way to get away from all the stressors in life.

“She loved to play in the mud,” Azdell said. “Her friends were a huge part of her life. We would ride a lot on the property out at home, but we also have a place outside of Fulton called Wildwood (Lot Owners Association). She would ride trails, play in the mud, clog the radiator, hose it off, clog it again and it was just day in and day out. Every chance that she had, she would bring friends out there to show them, even ones that never rode before to fall in love with riding.”

Joiner said the times she rode ATVs with Emma stick out in her mind, particularly one time with a turtle. She said she and Emma almost rode over a turtle and then put it in the bottom floorboard of the ATV.

“It scared it so bad that it wouldn’t come out for a good hour,” Joiner said with a chuckle. “We’re just holding the turtle and watching it come out. We named the turtle, but I just forgot the name. I’m going to miss always having that positive energy around you. She was my best friend so I would go to her for everything, and she would give the best advice.”

That positive energy always leaked out in the form of a smile, Medina said, which was on Emma’s face and the ones around her.

“Something I’m going to miss about Emma is her smile,” Medina said. “She was really fun out in the field. You never had to be so serious or anything. Even if we were disappointed or sad, she would always encourage us and lift us up. In my freshman year in gym class, we would always take funny pictures of everybody and it was really fun.”

Gooch said even a fun activity like Homecoming was made so much better with Emma around. She was in Gooch’s group and was so eager to be part of the group that Gooch couldn’t refuse her despite not being as close yet.

“I didn’t even know which Emma she was, but I figured it out soon,” Gooch said. “She came over (to my house), and we were just talking and we just talked about everything. I was like, ‘Man, where has this girl been? She’s pretty nice.’ Freshman homecoming was a good time.”

Emma’s brother, Christian, and sister, Joselynn Berg, appear with Jeremy and Audrey before the Lady Bulldogs’ “Emma” game against Kirksville on Aug. 22. She also has a biological mother, Amber, and other siblings, Connor, Chayse, Liberty and Kayleigh Samuelson.

With all the donors and blue T-shirts that are distributed, it’s like Emma’s family is even bigger. Everybody wants to remember the “beautiful soul,” as Joiner calls her and lend their support to her family that misses her so much.

“Thank you to the supporters because she really made an impact for everybody,” Medina said. “Just seeing so many people out there is something that she truly did.”

“The thing I miss the most is sitting down at dinner,” Azdell said. “We sit down every night at dinner as a family and we talk about our days between Jeremy and the rest of the siblings. There were a lot of times that we would share stories and laugh and get to know what’s going on in their lives.”