DUBOIS, Pa. — When Taylor Charles was going through her high school education, she believed for much of that time that she wanted her career to be in the healthcare industry. Believing that nursing would be a good route for her to take, she took several classes through the local healthcare system, while still completing her high school education at DuBois Area High School. While she does credit this program with giving her diverse experiences in dozens of different departments, it allowed her to realize that healthcare wasn’t the right career path after all, or at least the nursing side of it.

“I was more focused on the operations that took place,” Charles said. “That is, in terms of how the departments were managed.” By finding this, she also found the major that she wanted to study after graduating high school.

Charles knew for some time that she wanted to attend Penn State DuBois, and after hearing numerous positive remarks about the business program and the various options that are available within business academics at Penn State DuBois, she decided that was the route that she wanted to take.

Throughout her time in middle school and high school, Charles often attended events on the Penn State DuBois campus. From college fairs, visitation days, to coming to the campus when she was chosen to participate in math options career day when she was in seventh grade. Those experiences first helped her realize that she believed that Penn State DuBois was the place for her.

“I think it was the connection that I made when I was younger going to events,” Charles said. “It helped me know that I wanted to further my education with Penn State and at Penn State DuBois.”

Before stepping onto the campus for the first time as a student, Charles knew that she wanted to get involved on campus and build the best college experience that she could. Then, she received a letter in the mail that notified her that she was eligible for the Honors Scholar program at Penn State DuBois. Instantly, she felt this would be a great opportunity for herself to start building on that great college experience that she was looking for, as well as being able to benefit and continue building on her outstanding work that she completed during her education in high school.

As part of the application process for the Honors Scholar Program, each candidate goes through an interview in front of a panel consisting of representatives from the campus. When the interview day came for Charles, she remembers being nervous. But she had an important person to call upon for support. “Luckily my mother came with me,” Charles said. “My mother has been my number one supporter for everything that I do, and I am beyond grateful for her.” That support helped Charles breeze through the interview and start her journey not only at Penn State DuBois, but into the Honor Scholar Program as well.

Charles credits the Honors Scholar Program with really helping her with her education and working through her degree program. “Being part of the Honors Scholar Program has been quite the experience,” Charles said. “It has helped me work harder for what I want, help me find what I want in life and become more involved on campus.” She also notes that the program as also given her memorable experiences that she will never forget, such as having the opportunity to travel to Honolulu, Hawaii for a trip to learn about Hawaiian history and culture.

For any Honors Scholar student to maintain good standing within the program, there are several requirements that must be met. One of those requirements involves the student engaging and presenting a topic with faculty in one of three ways. Students have the option to complete undergraduate research, independent study or a creative accomplishment that is approved by an advisor. When the time approached for Charles to finalize her topic, she was currently in a marketing research class, and she brainstormed with her professor about what her topic should be. After discussing how the healthcare industry has started implementing artificial intelligence technology into many areas today, Charles chose to take this idea but to apply it to higher education. Thus, her research focused on the use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in higher education.

The North Central PA LaunchBox, powered by Penn State DuBois, offers the ability for students, faculty, staff and the community to experience AR and VR right on the campus. Charles worked with the LaunchBox to learn about AR and VR, what capabilities they have and how this equipment was being used. At the start of her research, Charles knew that both AR and VR were both relatively new to the educational sector. In recent years with limitations forced by the pandemic, alternative forms of education have gained much traction. However, AR and VR have somewhat dragged behind this growth. Through her research, what Charles found is that students and faculty at Penn State DuBois weren’t necessarily reluctant to working with AR and VR, they were more unfamiliar with both technologies and what each of them specifically can offer to their educational experiences. Charles also conducted research into the marketing efforts that have been made to try to bring more users into this emerging technology. That is one area where she feels her research shows that improvements can be made and that they could be very fruitful. “The university has a great opportunity to expand the resources they have available to students and faculty,” Charles said. “Sending out that message (about AR and VR) would really help bring awareness to this new kind of technology.”

Since the start of her research, the LaunchBox has used the information they received from Charles’ efforts to put more emphasis on bringing in more students, faculty, staff and members of the community to help them feel more comfortable with AR and VR, and to learn about everything that both technologies can offer to them. One example of this is usage of new technology that was recently brought in that both the baseball and softball teams are taking advantage of to simulate pitch reading and hitting in an indoor, virtual setting when space might be limited indoors or when weather conditions force practices to be moved inside.

Throughout the entirety of her research project, Charles believes that she greatly benefited from this experience. Going in with very little knowledge of AR and VR, she greatly expanded her understating of both technologies. It also gave her a prime opportunity to apply her experience with marketing strategies and put it into use in a real-life situation. “This research project has really helped me gain and build experience in terms of truly experiencing the ups and downs of conducting research,” Charles said. Her research efforts were also honored, as Charles received the University Libraries Undergraduate Research Award at the undergraduate research symposium at Penn State DuBois in 2022.

Another accomplishment for Charles during her time at Penn State DuBois is being one of the co-founders of the 21 days of sustainability challenge. Taking place for the first time in 2022, the challenge takes place over three weeks where students, faculty and staff participate in sustainable lifestyle activities to gain awareness of sustainability and gain more sustainable habits that can be implemented into their daily routines. The challenge worked alongside the business society, whom Charles is the vice president for, to culminate the event at the Earth Day celebration on campus. Currently, Charles and the 21 days team are working on several improvements for this year’s event, scheduled to take place March 31 through April 20.

Currently, Charles is completing an internship in logistics through the office of student engagement. After her graduation at the completion of the spring semester, Charles is ready to start her professional career, which she hopes can either be as a logistics manager or a project manager.

As her time as a Penn State DuBois student begins to wind down, Charles took some time to reflect about what some of her favorite things about the campus are. “I think my favorite part of Penn State DuBois is the number of activities available from this campus and how friendly everyone is,” Charles said. “There is always something to do at Penn State DuBois. I have been able to make many memories, from when I was young all the way into my current time here.”

The Honors Scholar Program at Penn State DuBois provides opportunities for students who excel academically to participate in specialized courses and activities, allowing them to engage at a higher level. All current students are welcome to apply at the beginning of the fall semester for the Honors Program. The application for Honors Scholars opens in the fall to incoming students for the following fall semester. You can visit the program website to find more information and to learn how to complete an application to the program.