Senior Taryn Dial has always had a competitive spirit. Dial’s older sister was her biggest inspiration and helped begin her athletic journey.
“Growing up my older sister played all of the sports, and I wanted to be just like her, so when she started playing volleyball, I went to her practices and just threw the ball around, but it stuck” Dial said.
Dial continued to play club volleyball until she graduated high school. After high school she signed to play at Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC) for two years.
When Dial finished her two years at KCKCC she started looking for other schools, “I really enjoyed coming to Baker’s campus. The team had such good chemistry,” Dial said.
On paper, Baker seemed like a great school for Dial.
Another factor Dial enjoyed about Baker was their education, “It’s not that I got a bad education at KCKCC, but it definitely could have been more challenging for me and that is something I definitely wanted,” Dial said.
Baker’s location also played a role in her decision, “its only 45 minutes from Topeka, which is where I’m from, so I could also keep my job in Topeka and commute back when I wanted to. Which was huge,” Dial said.
When looking back at her time at Baker, Dial is thankful for all for the friendships she was able to make.
“When you’re surrounded by a bunch of women who love and support you, no matter what’s going on, no matter how bad of a game you’re having, it gives you so much confidence” Dial said.
Dial is especially thankful for her teammate and friend, senior Meredith Brown, “she is genuinely the sweetest, kindest human I know. She’s very go with the flow casual, and I’m not, so it was great having her as my counterpart,” Dial said.
During her time as a student athlete at Baker, Dial has learned a lot of time management skills, especially this year.
“[This] last semester was genuinely the busiest semester of my life,” Dial said.
Though Dial had a stressful semester, she was still able to plan her wedding, finish her degree, and complete her season as the captain of the volleyball team.
After graduation, Dial plans to take a gap year to focus on working.
“My long-term goal is I want to go to med school and I want to become a family practitioner, and just make great relationships and help people,” Dial said.
During this gap year, Dial will be teaching Chemistry at Shawnee Heights high school and helping coach their volleyball and softball teams.
