Note: Hope Athletics is profiling student-athletes from all 22 of its varsity sports throughout the 2015-16 school year and highlighting their pursuits and achievements in the classroom. Seven stories will be shared during NCAA Division III Week from April 4-10.
Story by Eva Dean Folkert and photo by Alan Babbitt
Taylor Dever stood purposely in an unfamiliar location with unfamiliar street names in the heart of Seville, Spain, and he did not mind.
There to study in one of Hope's semester-long, international programs during his junior fall, Dever actually wanted to get lost; he wanted to navigate his way through the unknown.
So he dropped himself into the middle of the city's maze-like, narrow streets, determined to find his way around without an app or a map to guide him. It was a tactic he repeated on a number of occasions in Seville. It allowed him to explore the city with free abandon, yes, but it also gave him as a creative way to learn more about himself too.
What the senior lacrosse defender discovered is truth to J.R.R. Tolkien's words that proclaim this: "not all who wander are lost." In fact, some wander to find self-reliance, adventure, and comfort in uncomfortable situations. Dever, a fluent Spanish-speaker, discovered those things and so much more.
"I really didn't totally know what I was getting myself into," says Dever who hails from North Barrington, Illinois and graduated from Lake Zurich High School. "I hopped on a plane and traveled across an entire ocean for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to live with new people in a new country for an extended period of time. I didn't know anybody there. But I learned that I had the ability to be truly independent in a place completely new, and survive."
Not only survive but flourish. Dever, a management major and Spanish minor with a 3.42 GPA, enhanced his Spanish-speaking skills in his Spanish-only classes at the University of Seville and in his host home where no one in the family, comprised of a young couple and their three small children, spoke English. He visited a number of Spanish enterprises to enhance his understanding of international business management. He traveled to Ireland, Portugal, and Morocco to deepen his appreciation for different cultures.
In each place, Dever "lost" himself in his surroundings, and he began to think more globally. "Knowing another language opens up so many possibilities," he says. "As soon as you are able to speak a second language, the numbers of people in the world who you can communicate with multiplies exponentially."
Dever has continued his Spanish quest back at Hope by taking his Senior Seminar, Hope's capstone course, with Dr. Daniel Woolsey, associate professor of Spanish, this semester. In "The Jesus I Never Knew," students explore some of their North American cultural assumptions and stereotypes of the Christian faith and of Jesus himself by using Phillip Yancy's book of the same name and by speaking, reading, and writing entirely in Spanish.
"Though a Spanish minor, Taylor has not shied away from this course and engages deeply with the material and during class discussion," says Woolsey. "His semester in Spain certainly broadened his horizons, and his sincere faith is making him ask questions about how to combine career with beliefs."
Dever already has a job lined up after graduation this May. He'll join the Jacobson Group in downtown Chicago, a human-resources-oriented company that recruits and consults for insurance companies. He hopes in some way to incorporate his Spanish abilities in his vocation in the future, maybe at a non-profit organization, to keep alive and well his minor area of study that has become a major part of his life.
But first, he has a spring semester and lacrosse career to finish. A four-year varsity player, two-time co-captain Dever is "a passionate player who pours his heart and soul into his aggressive play," says head coach Mike Schanhals. "The team rallies around his effort and enthusiasm. Earlier in this season, Taylor and I had a quick conversation about adjusting his play to suit the circumstances. He used his exceptional footwork to make a change in his style, and it has paid huge dividends to our team. It is this type of full-force, yet intelligent, effort that shows what type of natural leader Taylor will be in the business world."
Open-minded hard work is a foundational ingredient for any good leader, and Dever, who is also president of the Cosmopolitan Fraternity, seems to have a penchant for diligence and finding understanding in that which is foreign. Perhaps this can be traced back to his freshman year when he was asked to switch from an offensive position to a defense one, thus "relearning my sport all over again," he says. Or, maybe adaptability is a trait he has had all along.
No matter. Whatever the circumstance, Taylor Dever will surely find his way.
