Taylor Calhoun '13 Recruiting Profile

Playing sports has influenced my entire life. As a freshman, my mom pushed me to try out for my school's freshman soccer team. I tried out as a goalie, a position I had never played before, and made the team. I was the only goalie, meaning I started every game, and played every game. By the end I had improved a lot, and won our team's Most Improved award. I kept playing in club, and then was the only goalie on our JV team. Beyond the sports, my academic and social life improved. My grades steadily rose, because I had to keep a certain GPA to stay on the team, but also because I was more motivated to succeed. I made a lot of friends who were also motivated to stay healthy and do well in school, and I began to form a family with my team mates. And with my new confidence in my academics, and the practice of forming those bonds with other people, I began to look forward to my future.Someday I'm going to be a paleontologist. I'm going to be in a lab, spending hours examining, studying, cleaning fossilized remains of plants and animals from the past, or outside in the hot sun by a bulldozer surveying the land for any exposed bone. I'm going to draw, because art is a big talent of mine, and I'll bring the animals I find to life. And I hope that I inspire children, making them love dinosaurs like I do. Whether that's from writing and illustrating childrens books, or helping with little camps for children, one day I will help bring this exotic land and its mysterious creatures to the public. And when I'm older I hope to teach. In college, I'm going to major in either Geology or Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, with a minor in art. For now, I'm balancing school, work, volunteering, socializing, art and sports. I have AP classes, volunteering with UCSD and a nonprofit organization called ConnectMed International taking photos of cranio-facial surgeries on children to raise money, volunteering at the San Diego Natural History Museum in the paleontology department, spending time with my friends and family, babysitting, making time to take videos, photos, draw and paint, and continuing to play soccer and shot put (track and feild) throughout the year. I'm going to keep playing sports my entire life. What level I play is the only question. If not NCAA, then I WILL play Intramurel or club sports. I love soccer, and I'd do anything, train as hard as needed, put as much effort as I can in to being able to play. It's what I love.