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Homeless life is 'Taylor'-made By
Toby G. Hayes LOGAN -- Besides being a double major in mathematics and biological engineering at Utah State University, Ben Taylor is homeless. "My close friends tease me about being homeless, but I could call a thousand places home," Taylor said. Since late August, he has called Logan Canyon home. But he does it by choice. "Most people don't believe me when I tell them," Taylor said. "Normally, I just don't tell people." Taylor emerges from the canyon each morning, walking the mile to campus. Classes begin at 7:30 a.m., so he gets to campus in time to shower and change clothes in the locker room of the physical education building. He has a cheat slip with all of his locker combinations on it for his six lockers. He does everything there, he said. "I brush my teeth, do my hair and take two showers a day." He does it for the adventure. "Once you go camping for 50 days in a row, you get used to it and you don't want to sleep in a warm bed," Taylor said. "You miss the outdoors." Taylor has an electric toothbrush, razor and rechargeable batteries he uses in his alarm clock and head lamp. He brings them and his cell phone to class to recharge at outlets in the classrooms. Last year Taylor lived in an apartment near campus, but he wanted to do something different this year. He got the idea after hearing about other students camping out during the school year, but as far as he knows he has been at it the longest, having started Aug. 24. "It doesn't affect my school load at all, even with the snow. If there's a blizzard outside, I look forward to it," Taylor said. With 18 credits this semester and as a member of the USU Latin Dance Team, Taylor still maintains a 3.9 GPA. He plans to go on an LDS mission after this school year and eventually on to medical school. He believes this experience is helping him prepare for both. "If I can do this, I can do anything. It makes everything else seem easy."
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