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Clemson | Life > Experiences

About Me: From High School To Clemson University

Isabella Taylor Student Contributor, Clemson University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Clemson chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Isabella Taylor

As I begin my post-secondary journey, I am eager to begin molding myself for my future. I am excited to start looking back at myself from high school, middle school, and elementary school, and seeing growth in abundant amounts. I look forward to making goals for myself, and having the time to complete them at my own pace. I am excited to learn about things that will progress me into my future career someday. I am eager to learn, both in life skills and in relationships with professors and students at a level I have never been able to before. Above all, I am excited to show my academic prowess in all that I do, and excel in as much as I can. 

In December 2024, I discovered the Lyceum Scholars Program through Clemson University—a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that allows students to travel abroad, study classical literature, and work toward a political science education. I have always been a devoted appreciator of the classical arts.

In my second semester freshman year of high school, I took leave from public school, and embarked on a homeschooling journey with my mother. She taught me as much as she could herself, having homeschooled my sisters and I when we were younger, and then enrolled me into a program known as “Faithful Scholars.” Faithful Scholars is a school unlike any other. It taught me how to get along with genius students who were five years younger than me, but learning at the same level as me. It taught me how to have grace when someone else is struggling, and how to apply concepts such as “Stoicism” to modern conversations which would be lacking without. I found myself in Faithful Scholars, and I hope to provide the same level of aplomb as I did in those classes to all of my future classes in college and beyond. 

Although I don’t know much of the inner workings of college, and none of the social norms, I am excited to get a chance to learn them, and more than ready to experience how people think differently than those I have met in high school. I have made some lifelong friends in high school (probably), and a couple of them are coming with me to Clemson. However, I am a tree. Ready to be unrooted and transferred to a forever-movable pot. I am ready to branch out and meet new people, and find fruits of my intellectual labor in abundance. 

College is the next step in my growth, and I am prepared to face the new. I am overjoyed to get a chance to learn more about myself and the world in full vigor. I am excited to learn, to grow, to gain a new perspective on life, to make mistakes, to indulge in the classics, and to make college the most profound experience of my life yet.

I love reading, writing, and scrapbooking, which reflect the creative side of me. I enjoy writing about my life every morning for about thirty minutes, recapping the day I just slept on. I learned this routine through The Artist’s Way, a book centered around unlocking and cherishing your inner artist. I love reading books from a wide spectrum. I tend to read more comedic romance books as of late, but every month or so I tend to pick up more enriching novels such as Martin Eden that I just finished a couple months ago, and The Fountainhead which I am still working on. I love to dabble in both the pleasurable and intellectual sides of reading, because I believe all of life should be understood in dichotomy. There should always be two sides to the same coin, and I believe reading is no different. 

I also enjoy scrapbooking, especially when it involves my loved ones. I vividly remember receiving a scrapbook of my father at his memorial service. It was small, red, and sparkly, filled with the best pictures of him. I was overjoyed to receive it since I didn’t have any photos of him for myself. One picture stands out above the rest—he’s in a navy blue suit with a sailor hat of some sort. He looks young and full of life, and in his features, I see so much of myself.

I love to go on walks, hikes, and runs when the weather is pleasant. We live in a beautiful neighborhood where the sun is almost always out around spring, summer, and most of autumn. I love to take my dog with me on walks, and even try to pull him along on runs; however, he isn’t too keen on that (he’s a small chihuahua mix). I love to swim in the summer at our neighborhood pool, and also go tubing with my family at the lake nearby. There is a small mountain-ish foothill about a 45 minute drive from my house, and my great aunt loves to take my sisters and I on hikes. 

I adore helping those around me. I have volunteered multiple times at Land & Sky Farms, a company that aims to eventually become a medicinal retreat for those who need it-such as veterans, widows, and really anyone who has experienced something greater than themself. I have participated in delivering water and food to those affected by Hurricane Helene with my mother. 

I have dabbled in a multitude of hobbies: crocheting, painting, drawing, building marble tracks, and many more, but the only things that have stuck are those that truly mean something to me. Reading connects me to people hundreds of years ago, allowing me to fully escape the grapple technology has on society today. Writing connects me with my mother, who is an English major, and who continues to relay to me the importance of keeping my penmanship sharp. Helping people connects me to my father who sacrificed his life to protect those he cared for, and a nation greater than himself. My interests help to define me, and help to relay the sort of person I am in all that I do.

My journey at Clemson University so far hasn’t been anything but special. I have become a member of multiple clubs, such as Her Campus, an online magazine for young women (that I am writing in today…). I am also in EWB, a noble club dedicated to helping people in Rwanda get clean water. I am a member of Women In Business, a club that connect young Business majors of all denominations into a network of strong communication, advice, and mentorship.

Clemson University is not only a beautiful place, but it also forces you to make beautiful and meaningful memories daily. I could not be any happier than I am now at Clemson. Go Tigers!

Isabella Taylor

Clemson '29

Isabella Taylor is an undergraduate working towards her B.S. in Economics with a Political and Legal Theory Minor at Clemson University. She is a Lyceum Scholar and a member of the CUBS Living Learning Community at Clemson. Isabella's mother owns a lavender farm in Lenoir, NC that Isabella works on seasonally, so the idea of hard work is nothing new to her.

Isabella's late father was a decorated Captain in the US Air Force, and his unfortunate passing in 2012 has given her a strong desire to uplift those around facing similar hardships. She is also the middle of five daughters, all of which have always created a strong female network for her throughout her life. Without her younger sister, Olivia, Isabella wouldn't have made it as far as she has.

Isabella loves reading, especially books by Jane Austen and Sarah J. Maas. She is also an avid writer and lover of creative non-fiction, having developed this affection through reading her mother's many published personal memoirs. If not writing or reading, Isabella can be found studying at the library with friends, preferably with a PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte) on her desk.