Meet Student Space Ambassador Taylor Denise Richardson of the SSA PROGRAM" where young people who want to change the world". Taylor is a 7th grader at The Bolles School who has aspirations of becoming a scientist, engineer and astronaut. She has attended 4 NASA Space Centers including attending Space Camp. She is a member of the Mars Generation as a Student Space Ambassador, a Girl Scout, Jacksonville Sister Cities Association Nelson Mandela Student Ambassador and member of Empowerment Resources Journey into Womanhood, and the Delores Weaver Foundation See the Girls which are girls’ empowerment clubs. Taylor is mainly known for her literacy efforts to ensure all kids have books to read.
To date Taylor has read to over 300 kids and collected over 5000 books. Through her book drives entitled "Taylor’s Take Flight with a Book" she hopes that every kid in Jacksonville will have books to allow them to take flight towards their own dreams and aspirations. In June 2016 she attended the first ever White House State of Women summit that focused on health, education, literacy and gender equality. In December 2016, Taylor was invited back to D.C. to The White House to attend a special private screening of the movie Hidden Figures where she heard from the cast, producer, author and Michelle Obama. This inspired her to raise funds to send a 100 girls to see the movie Hidden Figures. In just a month, they far exceeded the $2,600 goal — raising over $17,000 to host not one but two screenings and give away over 1,000 Hidden Figures tickets and books
and pay it forward in which she raised over $19,000 and took over 200 girls along with giving them books.
To date she has sponsored screenings in several states and over 1000 people. The remaining funds have been used to pre order DVD for local women and homeless shelters, books and two lucky youth a tuition paid trip to Space Camp in Huntsville, AL.
taylor is a 2016 Martin Luther King Jr. Tomorrow’s Leaders Middle School recipient, 2016 Point of Light honoree for volunteerism, 2016 Volunteer Florida Champion of Service award from Governor Scott for literacy efforts and book drives, 2016 Hands On Jax Youth in Action awardee for community service for literacy and book drives, and City of Jacksonville resolution. She was Junior Achievement 2016 JA Girl$ speaker, and has been featured in local and national papers and TV like the Chat, News for Jax, Morning Show, Rivercity, Times Union, Upworthy, Mashable, Introductions Necessary, The Mars Generation, Women You Should Know Girls 6-16 who Rocked STEM in 2016, and Twitter Top 200 Women of a Color in STEM.
Taylor Richardson (age 12) talks about being a woman of color- she rarely sees people who look like her in STEM fields, Taylor and her mother thought this would be an opportunity to show how people of color are working towards fields in STEM/space.Taylor then organized a Take Flight with A Book program that works in conjunction with the United Way Reading Pals program.
By February 2015, Taylor had collected nearly 200 books and donated them to North Shore Elementary School, located in Jacksonville, Florida. She also visited North Shore to read to the Pre-K class, while wearing her astronaut suit. She says “I feel every kid deserves a book,” said Taylor. “Books can take you to great places and those places can lead to great possibilities.” In November 2015, ‘Take Flight’ partnered with the Ritz Theatre & Museum to be one of multiple drop-off sites for books.
With this, Taylor hosted a children’s book reading while dressed as Astronaut Starbright to promote the Black Wings: American Dreams of Flight exhibit on loan from the Smithsonian Institute. Taylor collected over 500 book donations during the event. As a TMG Student Space Ambassador, Taylor is inspiring others to dream big, act big, and go out to make a change in the world. By sharing her excitement and passion for space with others, she truly embodies the spirit of The Mars Generation.
Thank you Taylor for being a great earthling, a budding “Martian” and an inspiration to many!
MIA G. OWNER OF MBA FILM WORKS & Kenesha "lioness telling" Holloway host of the outlet radio
