Incoming first-year student combines a love of people and numbers

From an early age, Taylor Dufour stood out from her peers. While they fantasized about castles, knights in shining armor and being a princess, she fantasized about exploring the galaxy as an astronaut.

“I loved the whole idea of space and science and discovering,” she said. As she began to seriously consider her qualifications as a young teenager, however, she found she came up short — literally. “Apparently you have to be at least 5-foot-2. Well, I topped out at 5-0, so those hopes and dreams were dashed,” she lamented with mock despair.

A busy life from the start

Dufour was only a year old when her parents, Laryn and Jim, came to her orphanage in China’s Guangdong province to adopt her. The couple brought her back to their home in Cypress, Calif., to begin their life together. They returned to China three years later to adopt another infant girl, Jordan. Now complete, the family of four settled into a fairly typical Southern California life.

“My mother always tried to keep me busy,” Dufour said, with activities running the gamut from piano lessons to tennis, swimming, martial arts and soccer. When she entered Cypress High School, she narrowed her focus to swimming, making varsity for both the swim team and water polo as a freshman. She continued with the former throughout her high school years, committing to a very demanding practice schedule.

Taylor Dufour diving off the blocks at the start of a race at Cypress High School’s home pool in 2015.

“It was fun, but swimming is pretty intense,” she said. “There’s a one-hour morning practice and then a three-hour afternoon practice, five days a week. So I would literally get to school at 6 in the morning, then I’d leave at 7:30 p.m.”

Dufour also worked as a lifeguard and swim instructor during her junior and senior years.

Her experiences in the pool certainly refined her sense of discipline and strength, but they didn’t prevent her from getting involved in other ways at school. She and a friend co-founded a chapter of International Rescue Committee, an organization that responds to serious humanitarian crises around the world. She was also part of the National Honor Society in high school and held leadership roles in California Girls State, a leadership and citizenship-training program offered by the American Legion Auxiliary.

A visual art lover, she would often draw or paint as a means to relax and wind down, most often while listening to a podcast, which, she’ll have you know, “I discovered way back before they were cool.”

Dufour also has an entrepreneurial streak in her, which manifested through an unlikely route — macarons. The delicate French sandwich cookies, made with almond meal and meringue, are notoriously difficult to execute.

“One of my friends is absolutely phenomenal at baking, and she likes to make macarons,” explained Dufour. “She was just passing them out at school for free, and me being the economics person that I am, I was like, ‘We have to monetize this!’”

The pair launched 360 Degrees Bakery shortly after — Dufour handled the accounting, money and advertising while her friend manned the ovens — and found the venture to be lucrative.

The next step

Taylor Dufour, second from right, and her family in Malibu, California, in 2014.

As she approached the end of her high school career, Dufour was thinking about which university to attend. She visited USC with her mother and got to sit in on a few classes to experience different lecture and discussion styles.

“The students asked such intelligent questions and there really was a passion for not only learning but for doing,” Dufour said. “I really like the hands-on approach and how USC students are such go-getters — whatever they want to do they just go and do it.”

Dufour entered USC Dornsife as a Trustee Scholar, a full-tuition award granted on the basis of academic excellence, leadership and community service. Despite several areas of interest, she has declared an economics major.

“I’m interested in entrepreneurship and business because I like the human aspect of it, and I love talking to and being with people. But I chose economics because even though I love people I still do like numbers a lot. Economics is that perfect blend between the two because it describes human behavior with numbers.”

Dufour is considering adding a second major in computer science through USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

“I’m just one of those people that likes to dip their toes into everything and just experience so much. There are so many clubs and sports organizations I want to join. But while I’m here at USC, I’d really like to broaden my horizons and step out of my comfort zone.

“Beyond that, I feel like I want to connect with not only the faculty but also my peers because — I know this was the most selective year ever for USC — there are so many brilliant minds here. I’d really like to achieve what I want to achieve with all of them by my side.”