Aerial Adrenaline

She's just 17, but Harper Doherty is a junior at Georgia Tech. She's also an acrobat who performs on aerial silks.
17-year-old Georgia Tech junior Harper Doherty is a silk aerialist, performing climbs, wraps and drops. These silks are prominent in the circus and can often be seen during Cirque du Soleil shows.

17-year-old Georgia Tech junior Harper Doherty is a silk aerialist, performing climbs, wraps and drops. These silks are prominent in the circus and can often be seen during Cirque du Soleil shows.

Harper Doherty is in her first year at Georgia Tech, but she’s no stranger to a university setting. At age 14, after being homeschooled in Canton, Ga., Harper dual-enrolled at Kennesaw State University to begin taking college courses. Now 17 years old, she is a junior by credit hours and on track to earn a degree in May of 2019.

“I’ll be 18 when I graduate next spring,” she says. “I’m a biology major. Currently, I want to specialize in sports medicine.”

The interest in a sports medicine career path stems from Doherty’s experience as a performer. She is an artist on the aerial silks.

See Harper's aerial acrobatics in action.

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