When people reflect on their Clemson experience, they often recall a collage of moments, from friendships and milestones to personal growth. For Caleb Dorr, those moments aren’t just memories. They’re captured daily, one photo at a time, as he documents and treasures each step of his unconventional path to graduation.
This May, Dorr will don his cap and gown and walk across the stage to receive his degree in automotive engineering. At 36, his journey to that moment has been anything but traditional.
A shift in focus
After high school, Dorr pursued his passion for photography, earning both undergraduate and graduate degrees in the field. But when industry shifts took him from shooting unique locations to a desk in midtown Atlanta, he knew it was time for a change. “My job in visual media consulting paid well, but it wasn’t very fulfilling,” Dorr said. “I spent more time looking out the window than at my craft, and I knew it wasn’t going to work long-term.”
While continuing to work full-time, Dorr began exploring another longtime interest, the automotive world. He enrolled in technical college courses, gaining experience as an automotive technician and in motorsports. That path eventually led him to a racing team in Atlanta, where his work ethic and willingness to learn helped him rise quickly, from scraping tires as a technician to managing multiple race cars as a crew chief.
The work was fast-paced and thrilling, from managing fuel and tire strategy during races to dialing in suspension in the shop, but Dorr realized that his long-term opportunities in the industry would be limited without a formal engineering degree. He applied to a small number of programs, setting his sights on one in particular.
“I told myself if I got into Clemson, that’s where I would go,” he said. “At the time, I didn’t even know about the undergraduate automotive engineering program, but it turned out to be the perfect fit.”
A new perspective
When he arrived on campus, the excitement of starting over was quickly accompanied by a new reality.
“I remember being in chemistry lab, wearing my lab coat and goggles, and looking around thinking, ‘How many 32-year-olds are in this situation?’” Dorr said. “It was a big adjustment coming back to school after so much time away.”
Despite that initial shock, Dorr thrived. He excelled academically, earning multiple 4.0 semesters and transitioning from general engineering courses to specialized automotive classes at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) in Greenville.
“One of the most meaningful moments for me was the first time I made the commute to CU-ICAR,” he said. “When I came back to school, I didn’t know if I could do this. Getting to that point felt like a real milestone.”
Mentorship became a defining part of his experience. Dorr worked closely with Johnell Brooks, a professor in the Department of Automotive Engineering whose support helped him navigate the challenges of being a nontraditional student. Through that relationship, he was introduced to the Department of Defense’s SMART Scholarship-for-Service Program, which supports students in science and engineering fields and connects them to careers in national service.
Dorr was selected for the highly competitive program and will begin working with the U.S. Army at its vehicle testing and proving grounds in Maryland following graduation.
Just as he benefited from mentorship, Dorr made it a priority to support others. As a teaching assistant, he embraced what he jokingly calls the “old man mentoring role,” guiding younger students by drawing from his own life experience.
“When I look at my peers, I see a lot of my younger self in them,” he said. “I try to help them be as prepared as they can for what’s ahead, but also recognize that everyone has to learn some things on their own.”
That perspective is shaped not only by his age, but also by his background in photography, an art form rooted in observation and perspective.
“As a photographer, you spend a lot of time behind the camera, paying attention to how perspective shifts, especially as life changes,” Dorr said.
It’s that same mindset that inspired him to document his Clemson journey in a deeply personal way. Each day, Dorr carries a small point-and-shoot camera in his pocket, capturing the moments in between—from morning light on Main Campus to changing leaves at CU-ICAR, and the everyday experiences that might otherwise go unnoticed.
“Life moves fast, and these semesters can disappear when you’re focused on what’s next,” he said. “I try to capture the small moments, the ones I know I’ll want to remember.”
Through those images, Dorr is preserving more than memories. He’s reframing what it means to start over, proving it’s never too late to change direction, take a chance, and see the future through a different lens.
