Taylor Burns of Tiffin recently started her junior year at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea. As a member of the BW volleyball squad, the St. Wendelin graduate traveled with the team to a tournament in Claremont, Calif., Aug. 30.
"It was the first week of school. We had to leave that Thursday," Burns said.
From the airport, the first stop on the team's schedule was joining the audience of a popular game show, "Let's Make a Deal." Burns spoke by phone to describe how she and her teammates "hopped in a van" and rushed off to grab a quick lunch and get to the studio for the recording session.
Regular viewers know audience members need to come in costume as part of the game.
"It was crazy and chaotic. We could only have one carry-on, so we already had all of our volleyball shirts, jerseys, knee pads and shoes. Most of our volleyball stuff took up our bags, so we had to pack fairly light," Burns said.
The team had chosen a "party animals" theme, and the players came up with animal costumes. Burns brought a green outfit to top off with an alligator hat from Dollar Tree.
Prior to the taping, representatives from the show encouraged participants to be energetic and lively.
"We had to wait in line. and every single person that was going to be in the audience for the show had to be interviewed," Burns said.
During the recording, her antics attracted the attention of the host, Wayne Brady. Burns was not permitted to divulge what she won or lost, but local viewers can tune in at 3 p.m. Wednesday on WTOL Channel 11 to see for themselves.
Burns said the volleyball team has had a disappointing season, but she has one more year to play. Then it will be on to graduate school.
"I am a communication disorders major, which is speech therapy and audiology. I want to go into speech therapy for grad school," she said.
