Challenge shaped St. Mary’s Ryken senior Collin George’s path to Clemson engineering
For Collin George, a senior at St. Mary’s Ryken High School in Leonardtown, growth came from choosing challenge over comfort.
In fact, that was exactly the point.
Whether learning golf after years of success in other sports, diving into engineering internships at Naval Air Station Patuxent River or stepping into leadership roles at school, George said some of his most formative experiences began with doing things that did not come naturally at first.
A four-year member of the school’s golf team, George first became serious about the sport in eighth grade after a friend introduced him to it. Unlike basketball and soccer, where he had already found success, golf demanded patience and discipline.
“When I started golf, I was terrible at it,” George said with a laugh. “I liked that it challenged me in a completely different way.”
“You’re never going to be perfect at anything, but golf is a lot harder to master,” he said. “There are so many different aspects of the game. You have to pour so much time into every single one.”
That mindset shaped George’s four years at St. Mary’s Ryken, where he pursued leadership, engineering and service while growing in confidence and community.