SALISBURY — On Monday, the Rowan County Board of Commissioners took time at the start of the meeting to recognize West Rowan athlete Emma Clarke, who has committed to play softball at the University of Tennessee after being named the top female athlete in North Carolina.

“Some see things as they are, Emma Clarke dreams things that never were and says ‘why not?’ She not only chases her dreams, she achieves dream after dream. At that point, once she achieves those, she doesn’t get in her comfort zone, she sets more dreams for herself and goes after them,” said Terry Osborne, the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce board chairman.

Included among the commissioners was Clarke’s grandfather Jim Greene, who read out the proclamation for the board, struggling through the last few lines of it because of emotion.

Clarke was also presented with a flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol in her honor by Garrett Hamilton, from Representative Dan Bishop’s office. Osborne said that Bishop had plans to be at the commissioner meeting to present the flag himself, but he was forced to remain in Washington, D.C., to deal with the aftermath of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

“Not only her great family, the love and respect they have for her; the love and respect her teammates have for her; the love and respect that everyone has had for her. Congressman Bishop did such a great job highlighting those things with all of the things in terms of her athletic prowess,” said Osborne.

Bishop also recognized Clarke by speaking about her on the floor of the House of Representatives during the extension of remarks section, entering her name into the official Congressional record.

“Emma is a superstar. Her parents, Ken and Elizabeth Clarke; her grandparents, Commissioner Jim and Karen Greene, are so proud of her, and so am I. We can’t wait to see what is yet to come. God bless Emma,” said Bishop on June 27 on the house floor, during the second session of the 118 Congress.

Clarke was announced as the female winner of the Pat Best Memorial Award for the Female and Male Athletes of the year in June, becoming the first female winner from Rowan County and following Romar Morris, who was the male winner in 2011, as the second-ever winner from the county. She was All-State two times in volleyball, named all-conference and all-county in basketball, was a central part of two state championship basketball teams and she holds the single season and career home run records.