This year, Taylor Burns is a senior volleyball player for Armuchee High School. Taylor was recently elected as valedictorian for the Class of 2025 for her outstanding grades and incredible extracurriculars. She has taken many difficult AP and dual enrollment classes as well as balancing her many extracurriculars to achieve this goal. Over the years, Taylor has taken AP Human Geography, AP Seminar, AP Environmental, AP Pre-Calc., AP Research, Dual Enrollment US History, Dual Enrollment English, Dual Enrollment Psychology, Dual Enrollment Statistics, and Dual Enrollment government/economics. It takes a very hardworking and determined student, like Taylor, to earn this honor. She hopes to attend Berry College in the fall to become a nurse practitioner.
Taylor has been playing volleyball for Armuchee and Tsunami Volleyball since she was in fourth grade, and she has played a few different positions during her nine years of playing. Taylor said, “I’ve always played back row as either a defensive specialist or a libero. It is my favorite position because I can always see what is happening on the court and be able to help my teammates by communicating during the play.” Beach volleyball has grown to be very popular, but Taylor has only ever played for fun. She said, “I think beach volleyball is super fun, but I never played competitively.”
Over the years, Taylor has built so many memories through volleyball. Taylor’s favorite memory was a recent victory she shared with her team. She said, “I have many favorite volleyball memories, but one is when we beat Model at home in the sweet sixteen this year. We had an amazing crowd at the game and felt so much support from the Armuchee community!” For recreational volleyball, Taylor plays in lots of tournaments where she gets the opportunity to travel to fun and lively places. She said, “My favorite volleyball tournament was during junior year high school season when we took a trip to Sevierville Tennessee to play for a few days! It was a great competition and there was a water park at our hotel!”
Many of Taylor’s closest friends have also come from volleyball. She sees it as a place for friendships to grow even more. She said, “I have met some of my best friends through volleyball, and spending time with them over the years has been what made volleyball so great.” Something special that Taylor and her teammates have is handshakes with one another. The team sees them as a good luck charm for games and tournaments. She said, “I love having handshakes with teammates!! Our team is a little superstitious. Most everyone on the team has a handshake or pregame “ritual” to bring us good luck. Me and Sophie Thacker had a handshake we did before every game, and me and Mallory Hulsey had a high five we did in between every point for a certain rotation. I think handshakes and high fives are so important to bring good energy and encouragement to the court.”
Through Taylor’s many years of experience, she has learned many of her own personal preferences when it comes to preparing for and playing in a game. Such as her favorite pregame snack and song. She said, “My favorite pre-game song was honestly anything that played on our playlist, and my favorite pregame snack is chicken salad chick!” Taylor has played many different seasons of volleyball and has learned that playing for Armuchee is her favorite. She said, “I loved playing travel volleyball in the winter and spring, but my favorite is high school volleyball in the fall! Nothing beats playing for your school with your best friends.” The teams she enjoys watching play the most aren’t ones you see very frequently. Taylor said, “I loved to watch boys volleyball at big tournaments. It was always very entertaining and something unique to watch!”
With playing a sport, you begin to find someone that inspires you to get better. Someone who inspired Taylor was a girl that was a couple years older than her on her team. Taylor said, “One inspiration I always had throughout my volleyball career was Kyleigh Powell. We played the same position and I have looked up to her since I was in fifth grade. She always gave me helpful tips on how to pass better, and was overall a great role model to look up to on and off the court.”
