Earth and Mineral Sciences

After 11 years, struggles pay off for energy engineering graduate

After overcoming a series of financial and personal setbacks, Avery Taylor achieved her goal of earning a Penn State degree in energy engineering. Taylor is now working in the field. Credit: Penn State / Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — At Penn State's spring commencement ceremony, when Avery Taylor fulfilled a long, often difficult journey to earning an energy engineering degree and began setting her sights on her next chapter, she cried seven times.

It meant a lot, she said.

It was a sweet end to a tumultuous collegiate experience marred by personal and financial setbacks that lasted 11 years. But the result – a Penn State degree – is something she said no one can take from her.

“It honestly means the world to me,” Taylor said. “I went from being a first-generation student who never set foot on campus to becoming a Penn State grad. I can’t explain how amazing it feels to know that I finished while overcoming so much to get there. No one can take this from me.”

Throughout that time, Taylor said she never lost sight of her goals of earning a degree and entering the renewable and sustainable energy realm. She just started a position at CLEAResult, the largest provider of emission-reducing energy solutions across North America.

Taylor’s path to Penn State began in 2011 at age 17. She had just graduated high school in North Carolina a year early and Penn State seemed just far enough from all the troubles she associated with there, she said. She first joined the College of Engineering, then eventually took a year off to establish residency before returning and then later joining the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

She struggled at times to keep her grades up while dealing with financial issues that sometimes took her out of enrollment. Issues that crept up — such as an eating disorder and multiple traumatic brain injuries over a year and a half — continued to pull her from her goal, she explained. She said she heard countless times that her grades weren’t good enough.

The alternative, she said, wasn’t appealing. Her family struggled with being financially secure, and the thought of leaving with nothing to show for it simply wasn’t an option.

People like Hilleary Himes, her academic adviser in the college’s Ryan Family Student Center; James Guyton, coordinator of multicultural affairs in the college’s Office of the Associate Dean for Educational Equity; and faculty members like Susan Stewart, who taught wind/hydro energy conversion systems — an area Taylor is passionate about — were “her rocks,” said Taylor. She  said they helped keep her keyed on her goals while external forces tried to pull her away.

“They were the pillars that kept me going when I felt like I couldn’t,” Taylor said. “I made great connections with people who really care and go above and beyond what their actual job description is. If I needed to vent, I could talk to them, and they would listen without judgment. That created a very safe space for me, especially considering all that was going on.”

In 2018, Taylor caught a break, she said, with an internship in the Office of Physical Plant, a position she held until 2020. Great experiences with Penn State’s Wind Energy Team — where she competed for two years — also helped keep her on track. From there, she said, she paid her way until graduation in May.

Graduation was a surprise for Taylor, who found out just weeks earlier that her substitution for a required class that was not being offered in summer was approved, paving the way for her to receive her diploma. She rushed out a series of resumes and quickly landed a couple interviews before deciding CLEAResult was the best fit, she said.

At CLEAResult, she’s working to help people and businesses make better energy solutions. It aligns perfectly with her passion for sustainability, Taylor said, and she sees plenty of opportunity for growth within the company. One day, she hopes to work more closely in the wind energy field and also use her environmental engineering and architectural history minors to make historic buildings more sustainable.

Her future path, she said, is something that became more clear just as she was figuring who she is now.

“My goal was to come to Penn State and figure out who I wanted to be as a person,” Taylor said. “And I think I did that. All my life, I’ve had people trying to write my story. I realized that if I was allowing other people to write my story, I wasn’t actually participating in life. When I felt like I was stuck I realized I have people who I can go to. I have a community around me. At Penn State, I was never alone. It just took that leap of faith and to ask those around me for help.”

Last Updated July 5, 2022

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