By Ruthie Peckinpaugh
Seeing each other at home, school, and extracurricular activities and clubs is common for these two sisters. Especially if it involves proudly supporting Delta across their chest.
Emme and RJ Townsend are sisters who have made a big impact over the years in school activities and sports functions.
They shine off the court in the stands rather than on the court. The Blue Crew wouldn’t be the same without them screaming their hearts out to the game or the players.
Emme is one of the co-leaders of the Blue Crew for Delta High School. She enjoys supporting her classmates by creating all the themes and posts for games, meets and competitions.
Emme plans to hand off the title of the leader of Blue Crew and Blue Crew socials to RJ, hopefully during her senior year. Emme believes RJ will be an amazing leader in the student section and create fun and unique themes for the games.
“The Blue Crew is more than just a club; it’s so much fun and my favorite part of every school year,” junior RJ said. “I’ve grown up in (this) community and have always wanted to be a part of the student section at games since I was a little girl.”
Their love for sports goes beyond just Delta High School sports. They are also big fans of University of Michigan football and Purdue University basketball.
The Townsend sisters love to watch sports and cheer for sports, but do they love to play sports? The answer is no. Sports are well known to the sisters, but they never had the passion that other kids do in high school.
Senior Emme believes sports are not to be seen as the most important goal in her life. She has found academics to be a big part of her life and wants to keep that going.
“I never really had a passion for sports like I did for my academics,” Emme said. “My academic goals and professional goals are way more important to me personally. A lot of people, including my friends, have sports as some of their main priorities, but just for me it was never really my priority in life.”
The sisters have always had an urge for the classroom, though. Their teachers even recognize their ability to excel and their talent for trying and learning new things.
They are known for the smiles and excitement on their faces every time they walk into a class no matter the day. No matter the time. No matter if they are having an ideal day or not they always put their best foot forward in the classroom.
Student media teacher Mr. Tim Cleland has always seen the Townsend sisters’ potential in academics and even just being amazing humans.
The sisters have Cleland first period every school morning for Eagle Zone News. They both put a lot of time and effort into the news every single day, even for big or little projects in the class.
Emme loves it so much that she makes it a priority to get to Eagles Zone News for the first period. One recent day she was going to be gone all day, but decided she needed to go to EZN so she could be the producer.
“I really have enjoyed the Townsend sisters over the years in the (newspaper and EZN) classes,” Cleland said. “Their personalities are just always so enjoyable.”
On top of all the amazing academic performances, they are involved in many extracurricular activities including many clubs. The two sisters love to help others in their community and also in their school atmosphere.
The most interesting thing about the clubs they are involved in is that they do it together. They are so alike in many ways so they get to spend a lot of their high school career together even though they are in different grades.
Emme and RJ are involved in Riley Dance Marathon Club, Environmental Club, National Honor Society and Freshmen Mentors.
Emme claims being in all of these clubs makes her and her sister have a strong sisterhood.
“My sister and I actually have a really good relationship,” Emme said. “We are really close in age and do a lot of the same club and activities together which makes us have a bond not like any other sisters I know.”
Although these sisters do not participate in a sport physically, RJ decided to be a baseball manager for the 2025 season.
RJ has decided to try managing the baseball team as a new hobby and wants to expand her knowledge in different sports besides just basketball and football.
“I really really like it so far,” RJ said. “I have begun to love watching baseball which I never really have before.”
As these two sisters finish this year together, Emme is heading to IU Bloomington for college, splitting the two sisters apart for the first time in a long time.
They will cherish every moment together until Emme walks across the stage at graduation.
