Taking Chances

Gemma Bryant (’25), a recent urban policy and planning and emergency administration and planning double alumna, believes in taking chances and trying new things. More than believing in it, she has lived it. And her hard work has continually been recognized — from job recommendations to being selected as the latest UNT Ring Award recipient.

Bryant, who was born in Everett, Washington and grew up in McKinney, Texas, changed her major a number of times, taking interest in several areas and weighing her options before settling on not one but two areas of study.

“I found out we had an introduction to emergency management class and just randomly took it and it ended up being something I really enjoyed. So, I switched my major to emergency management and took an introduction to urban planning class as another elective and I also really liked that, so I ended up double majoring.”

Her courses led to further involvement in student organizations such as the Collaborative Urban Planning Association (CUPA) and even Bryant’s job as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapper.

“Dr. Schuman, who teaches vulnerabilities in disasters, was the one who recommended me for the GIS job,” she says. “I had to make a map for his class and then he recommended that I apply for the job. I’m very thankful to him for that — I wouldn’t have my job or all that experience if it weren’t for him.”

In her role with GIS, Bryant also collected tree data around the Denton campus, recording species, height and diameter metrics among others.

“That was not something I thought I would do,” Bryant says. “It’s so important to do things, or it’s okay to not know what you’re doing because there have been so many things that I’ve just loved through experience.”

Bryant’s involvement on campus has allowed her to expand her community — a community that began with her childhood best friend joining her at UNT and the two being roommates all four years.

“We met when we were in the third grade, so she’s been such a great support system for me,” Bryant says. “We were roommates at Joe Greene Hall and we’re still roommates now. We’re best friends. It’s great to have someone to come home to.”

Bryant’s father passed away when she was 14, and that loss heavily impacted how she approaches relationships.

“That experience definitely made me hold people close,” she says. “So, I’m very relationship oriented, if you will. I love my friends, and I love my family.”

In the spring of 2025, Bryant was selected as the UNT Ring Award recipient and was presented with the time honored accessory during the UNT Ring Ceremony and Eagle Ring Dive in May.

As part of the experience, Bryant was able to select someone very special to place her ring on her finger for the first time — her mom.

“She’s definitely my biggest supporter, my biggest cheerleader,” Bryant says. “We actually have the same birthday, so we’ve always been very close and we always celebrate birthdays together.”

This year, their birthdays were made even more special as they fell on Bryant’s graduation day, May 9.

Bryant sites her mother a source of inspiration, as she went back to school and completed her degree while Bryant was growing up.

“She’s always been very supportive, very much that mom that encourages you to do what you want,” Bryant says. “I’m very thankful that she never forced me to do anything I didn’t want to because I got the opportunity to do a lot of different things growing up. I did soccer, I did dance, color guard, I played oboe. I did all these things, and she never pressured me to stay in one, and she never made any of them unenjoyable. I just really love her.”

Looking ahead, Bryant wants to make an impact, citing an experience as a student that has stuck with her.

“There was a CUPA event that I really enjoyed where we picked up trash at North Lakes Park,” she says. “It was really fun and really cool to do for the community because no one really does that and it was quite dirty. But being with my friends and also doing something for the community is one of my favorite memories and I want to keep doing that, keep doing something where I can help a community.”