Taiya Bryant '24 Recruiting Profile

Hello, my name is Taiya Bryant and I live in Aurora, Colorado. As I enter my senior year in high school, I have the pleasure of saying, I know what I want to do when I graduate from college. I’ve always had a passion for Criminal Justice and Psychology and wanted to learn more about the behavior of human beings and determine why they committed a crime or how the brain triggered that event to happen. This topic is interesting to me because I like to watch and learn how groups of humans act physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially during the phases of life. I think Psychology is important to learn about because it’s the way that people react internally and externally. There is a journey that I have experienced in my life and that journey is something I will share in my essay as to why I want to go to college and major in psychology to help people in the world. 

There is more to my journey than simply being interested in why people operate the way they do. I have been pushing myself to understand human development and behavior since I was a young girl. I grew up cheering my whole life and finding the right sport for me. It brings me joy and satisfaction to know that I can do something that other people wouldn’t put themselves through because of how hard and challenging it looks. I personally like to challenge myself and put the extra effort into something I dedicate myself to. I started cheerleading when I was 4 on a mini-Football team and that’s the day I knew this was my sport. My 5th grade year all the way through 8th grade I did a junior program for my current High School and got my Back handspring on the Dead mat floor for the first time. My freshman year was when Covid hit so we had to try out on Zoom and had to send videos of the skills that we had. My freshman year through sophomore year I was on Junior Varsity and loved the environment and how close the team was. My Junior year I was on the Junior Varsity team, but I would go to Varsity practices as an alternate. That taught me that if I really push myself to try even harder than I did I will make varsity Senior year. I went above and beyond to get my standing tuck and my Round-off Back handspring Tuck for tryouts so that I could make varsity. Couple months of pushing myself to that goal I got my running tuck and standing tuck consistently for tryouts. Tryouts come early April. I showed everything I worked hard for and made Varsity. It has taught me that you get what you work for and that you are your biggest competitor, meaning that you’re the only person who will tell yourself “You can’t do it “and must think the opposite of that.