People of the Pack: Taylor Staab

Taylor Staab is a junior from Brandon, SD majoring in sport marketing and media with a minor in German.

MM: What are you involved in at USD?

TS: I’m in the concert band, I do sustainability club when I’m not in an internship, I go to the SMA meetings. I did an internship with the Skyforce that made me up there (in Sioux Falls) at least twice a week, and I couldn’t really do anything.

MM: What do you like about USD?

TS: My other college I went to, Buena Vista University, was a D3 school with like 800 students, so it was a very tiny college. Coming here was kind of a big change, but the atmosphere is incredibly different. It’s kind of nice not knowing everyone on campus so I can go into a class and meet someone new. It’s nice hanging out in the MUC. We just didn’t do that at BVU, because you just had your dorm room open because a majority of the people live in the same dorm as you. The atmosphere here is overall better. Everyone’s more welcoming, and I think it’s just in a South-Dakota-hospitality kind of way that we have.

MM: How has college benefitted you?

TS: You change a lot as a person in college. My biggest joke is like freshman year me in high school would not be friends with college me, just because I’ve learned to branch out and find my own voice and my own thoughts. Both colleges have done that. They’ve given me a chance to grow and explore as a person, and just being able to not have to take your 8 to 3 classes, like you can go take three classes a day and then go explore something else. You have the opportunity to meet so many different people in college. I think overall, you just become a better person in college. I think I’ve become a better person since college.

MM: What are you most passionate about?

TS: Sports. I played sports growing up, but then I stopped. I fell in love with soccer at the 2014 World Cup. I like to joke that it went downhill from there, that my happiness relies on 11 men chasing a ball. My Saturday mornings are not that fun. I am very passionate about sports. I love being part of the band, I love playing the clarinet, it’s something that I’ve been doing since the fourth grade. Just being able to continue that on throughout college is also really nice. I just like being involved in a lot of things.