Hello!! Welcome to my e-portfolio that will help showcase some of my most amazing and beneficial experiences throughout my academic and professional career. I am excited to present you with some pretty interesting content and display of myself in the most authentic way.
Who Am I?
My name is Carmen Taylor, and I am currently a rising Junior attending Old Dominion University. I am on track to graduate in the Spring of 2026. Ever since a young girl, I have always been creative, confident, curious, and captivating, which are all traits that were beneficial to have growing up. As a high school senior, I knew I really wanted to further my education, so completing college is still an important goal of mine. I decided to major in cybersecurity, and have been recently thinking of adding a minor, but is undecided at this time. When choosing such a vast, demanding, and rigorous career path, I needed to ensure the college I’d call home had a plethora of support options, to ensure I have the ability to succeed effortlessly. My family, friends, academic mentors, academic groups, and church family have all played a key role in my success thus far. Which is why, I chose to enroll at ODU, I knew this would be the college I’d love to call my forever home away from home. It was close to family and offered a very supportive team of mentors I needed to achieve my goals. I attended STEM camps when I was younger, which helped me understand my love of the technology side of things and how science, engineering, and mathematics play an important role in the expansion of technology as well. Ever since I was a young kid, I have always been tech savvy and been intrigued by the internet and computer devices in general. I always thought it was very impressive how two interesting inventions could be used to achieve such greatness while also being the most damaging means for destruction as well. Which is something that stood out to me more and more as I got older and began focusing my attention on what was happening in the country I reside. I realized the world is becoming more technologically advanced and the dangers could potentially hurt many people as well as yield many benefits on the contrary. I believe my life purpose is to help people in the best way I know how, so I knew once I decided to enroll, I needed a technical career because it combines all my best passions and gives me the opportunity to make the world a better place and protect as many people as possible with the skills I possess. After completing my first two years headed towards a cybersecurity degree, I knew this career was truly something I’d love. I learned so many new skills only halfway through my college career and have a general idea on what I would love to accomplish. I would love to continue my education after college as well, moving on to my master’s degree. I also have a dream of being able to successfully start my own security business that could have state of the art framework systems, as well as an efficient team who is excellent in coding, and software development services, all for an affordable price. With my company I hope to be able to teach small businesses and citizens on how to protect themselves from malicious acts. Later, hoping to make enough earnings to set up a scholarship fund for cybersecurity students, who have the courage and dreams to expand, but feel their financial limitations are holding them back. I am someone who has always dreamt big and worked hard to achieve greatness, so I would love to be a blessing to young adults who wish to do the same.
During my time at college, I have been setting things in place to help achieve these goals. So far, I have joined a few groups, that led me to meet a ton of new friends in many different majors. I also attended an internship during the 2024 summer semester. I also am a part of the LeADERS program at ODU, which gives students the ability to gain professional experience towards their specific degree pathway. Lastly, I also had two campus jobs that allowed me to learn office expertise as well as patience. The first job at the LRC, Learning Resource Center, was where I gained the most office experience. Here I maintained inventories, created and presented workshops, helped plan and host events, as well as help any students who needed help. My second campus job was with the SSRC, Social Science Resource Center, here is where I learned some essential life skills. Here I learned proper phone etiquette, patience, and the art of not taking things personally. I have created 65 credits as of today, learned a great deal, and been introduced to a ton of new and important people. I am thankful for how much I have grown and am excited to see what’s next to come.