Taylor Likens

• Positions: Production Teacher and the Campus Videographer
• Bachelors or Degrees: Bachelor’s in Mass Communication from Sam Houston and Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Production
• School Activities:  Film Club and Film UYL
• Years at Caney Creek: 1
• Years Teaching: 6

How would other people describe you?

I would leave that up to them.

Was there a career you wanted to pursue OR pursued before teaching.

Well, I’ve done a lot of different stuff. I mean, I’ve had all kinds of jobs, but when I was a teenager, the main thing I was interested in was writing. I was a good writer. I was proud of that, and actually took the class I’m teaching right now, and that’s kind of where I found out that I was actually pretty good with video. And so I wound up loving movies. I loved storytelling. The whole reason I liked writing was because of storytelling. And so that just kind of advanced into, well, you know, you can. I can actually do a lot more. I can kind of get my hands dirty with it, with the video and film. So I wound up steering into filmmaking.

Tell us about how you got into teaching. 

So I was asked to teach a I was getting my MFA, and I was asked by the head of the Mass Comm program at the time, who was a French guy, John Bodon, and he asked me if I wanted to teach a undergrad class, and so I needed the money, so I did it. And as it turns out, I actually thought I was pretty good at it, and I really enjoyed it. I like teaching, and I liked it enough that I figured that I might as well pursue it full time. And I went out and I looked for some positions. You can’t really just get you can’t really expect to just instantly get a job teaching at the university, right? Doesn’t really work that way. So I looked into high school teaching, and there happened to be an opening where my wife worked, which was a Shepherd. So I went straight from teaching at the college to teaching a Shepherd, and then moved to Tarkington, and then moved here, and that was, I would not even if I had the opportunity now, I do not think I would return to teaching at a university. I quite like working with the high school kids.

What do you do outside of school for fun? Why? 

I make films, and that’s, that’s my main thing. I spent a lot of time doing that. I enjoy spending time with my kids. I have three kids, a five year old, a two year old, and a one year old, and I like watching movies, like horror movies. Like to hunt. I like messing with guns, rebuilding old guns, and making my own gunpowder, black powder. Read a lot when I can, a lot of literature, stuff like that, just a lot of I keep myself busy.

When people get to know you, what are they most surprised to learn about you? 

Probably that I am significantly less of a jerk than I might appear to be.

Tell us the story about what you are most proud of yourself for.

The thing that I’m the most proud of is actually probably I think that I’m a Good dad, and that’s meant a lot to me. 

Who is someone you are thankful for and why?

 I am extremely thankful for my wife. Which is kind of a cop out answer. I know that doesn’t exactly sound surprising. Oh, I’m so thankful for my wife, but seriously though we actually got together as teenagers when we were going to this high school, and we stuck with each other through a lot of hard stuff, a lot of things that people typically do not survive to begin with, and then over time, instead of hating each other, that wound up growing us even closer. And so now I am quite proud of what I’ve managed to build with her, the family, the life we have right now and if I were with pretty much anyone else, it would not have gone that way.

What advice would you give to someone pursuing a career similar to yours?

Don’t go to college, Go be a plumber, Go be an electrician, Go be a welder. Do something practical, do something that makes money, do something that gives you a skill that will work in you know, the people in high society need you just as much as people are going to need you if the bombs fall and the apocalypse happens, and get a real good, practical skill, make decent money, have a serious purpose, a reason to get up every single day, and then use that money and that freedom that is being afforded to you, use that to do what you want with your life. And if that’s being a painter or a filmmaker or whatever, do that. Don’t go to school to be a painter. You don’t need to go to be a painter. Go to school to get a job that makes you money that you can use to be a painter. 

What do you hope to be remembered for? 

Being a good person.

What’s on your bucket list?

I want to wrestle with and kill a very large animal.

Favorites

• Food: Double Bacon Cheeseburger
• Song: “Telephone Call From Istanbul” by Tom Waits 
• Movie or TV Show: “Better Call Saul”
• Book: “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville