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“I’ve been making
friends here since day one.”
So says LaQuentin Taylor, who enrolled in college at age 23 but
wasn’t sure at first if it would be “a fit.”
“I had been out of high school for five years, and I was worried
about fitting in here,” he says. “But I became involved in
several activities and began making new friends. It’s been an
awesome thing.”
Taylor was honorably discharged from the military this summer
after spending five years serving his country, both in the Navy
and in the Marines. Sent to Iraq in September 2004, he served
for eight months on the medical staff for his unit, providing
basic first aid, taking care of sick and wounded Iraqi citizens
and military personnel, and serving on the Quick Reactor Force.
In the process, he sometimes assisted the doctors with minor
surgical procedures and discovered that he has a real love for
emergency medicine.
“I love working in that kind of atmosphere,” says Taylor, who
spends around 30 hours each week at Hamilton Medical Center in
the emergency room working as a Nurse Technician.
“Every day is a new challenge. One day you might help 30 – 40
patients, and the next you might help close to 100. It makes me
feel good on the inside to be helping people who really
appreciate what you’ve done for them.” |
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Because he enjoys the
challenge of emergency medicine so much, Taylor thinks he might
make nursing his career, and is considering enrolling in the
two-year Registered Nursing program. A second option is to
pursue a psychology degree, and to eventually earn a Ph.D. in
that field and become a psychiatrist.
“I’ve always been interested in finding out why people’s minds
work the way they do, and you can do that with psychology. But
I’m also interested in the way the body works. With either
direction, I feel like I can make a difference in people’s
lives.”
Taylor feels like the five years between high school and college
were, for him, a godsend.
“I didn’t feel like I was ready for College in 2002, so I chose
to join the military. I loved the atmosphere there, the
camaraderie, making new friends, having new experiences. I grew
up a lot during that time and became a better person. I learned
a lot about myself during that time, too.”
That growing up experience enabled him to jump in with both feet
when he enrolled at Dalton State in August of this year.
“In high school, my main activity was playing football,” says
the former Northwest Bruin linebacker and tight end. “But here,
I’ve joined a lot of organizations already.”
A member of the Baptist Collegiate Ministries (BCM), the Black
Student Alliance (BSA), The Bacchus Network,and the NorthWest
Crescent Leadership Alliance (NWCLA), Taylor is active in
collegiate organizations both on and off campus. He also
attended the Berry Leadership Conference in September where he
met students from other area schools, made new friendships, and
created new networking opportunities.
In between his classes, school work, and “part-time” job, Taylor
manages to play flag football through the College’s Recreation
department. With all of his activities, he has very little free
time, but he doesn’t seem to mind the sacrifices he’s making to
be back in school.
“I always knew I would go back to school. I tell everyone it’s
not too late to start. You’re going to have to do it eventually,
so you might as well get started.”
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