Taylor Buhrts

History, Class of 2020

I’m an extremely avid reader. I probably read 80 books a year, if not more. I’m at libraries all the time. Everyone usually knows my name and will set new books aside for me because they know what I like. I started getting prepublication books this way and fell in love with them. I’m often one of the first people to read a book and by the time it gets published, I can hopefully meet the author or get an autographed version. It became a way to meet them and talk about writing processes or how they came up with certain ideas.

I have this book called Thin Space by Jody Casella, which was one of the books I got to read in prepub. I was one of the first people to ever read the book since I had the prepub. I was near the end of reading it in my math class. My teacher was so irritated by my fidgeting that she took it away. Then she was even more irritated by my fidgeting that she gave it back to me and told me to finish it in the hallway. Jody is from the same town and I went to high school with her daughter. She came in to talk to everyone and she actually pulled me aside afterwards to talk about the book. No one else had read it so she couldn’t ask questions or talk about it to anyone else without giving away the ending. I have it signed by her because she personally sent it to me. That’s one of my favorites.

Why Heidelberg?

I was originally planning to attend a school in Kentucky. I had a friend who told me to check Heidelberg out. After I came here, I left knowing this was where I had to come.

Taylor attended Upper Arlington High School in Columbus, Ohio. As a history major, she aspires to be an archivist one day. Taylor is a part of a new organization on campus called SLAMH, Students Leading Awareness for Mental Health. The student organization aims to create an open-minded campus where those with mental health issues feel safe to talk and have the opportunities to get any help they may need.