Charlotte Taylor

I spent years exploring different options attempting to figure out what I wanted to do in college. Ranging from art, computer science, design, and engineering my freelancing and job experience helped me conclude: environmental engineering!
In High School, I always assumed I would major in a combination of graphic design and computer science. To gain experience I worked my first job teaching kids ages 5-14 how to code. Despite being a kid, working with and attempting to teach kids was very hard! I struggled to help the kids in their work and struggled even further to enjoy coding. My final straw was when a kid used a previously made eraser catapult to launch a thumbtack at me because his code wouldn't compile. I could understand his frustration, broken code is the worst. So I decided to try new things.
When in lockdown I focused more on my creative outlets, making and selling earrings and doing freelance design work. I love to do both and found it a fun and effective way to use my time. Which is why I decided to use them as a school capstone project. As much as I loved my crafting when combined with school (like most things do) it became a chore, something I didn't want to pursue any further.
Finally, as a senior in high school I worked for a professor at Georgia Tech for a class on origami engineering. By far the most fulfilling job and experience, it inspired my love for the engineering community. This however was in the civil part of the civil and environmental building at GT. As much as I loved that job and all the paper folding it entailed, I found myself the most interested in work when I had to walk through the water testing facilities to get to the leftover tools we needed.
All of these experiences not only shaped who I am today but helped me discover what I was most interested in studying environmental engineering!