Taylor: Young Girl, Big Dreams

By Natalie “flyGIRL” Kelly

How many people, at age 10, know what they want to be when they grow up? I sure didn’t! My dream job changed from week to week as a young girl. My path recently crossed with a young girl, Taylor Peeff, who has focus and big dreams to become the youngest, female airplane captain at UPS. This young girl from Louisville, Kentucky, was recently granted a wish to go on a personal flight and be co-pilot for a day through the UPS “Wishes Delivered” program. Anyone can watch Taylors’ dream-come-true-experience on YouTube. Grab tissues! This video pulls at my heart strings every time.

Meeting Taylor was special for me. She reminds me a lot of myself at that age. She is full of life and is a happy, personable young lady. Taylor enjoys all kinds of sports activities, as well as using her creative talents to make candy, draw and create jewelry. Taylor says, “I like to stay busy. I don’t like to be bored.” She also uses some of her free time to practice flying with her personal, home computer flight simulator. She has a lofty goal of taking the FAA Private Pilot written exam as soon as she turns 15. She already has the study materials for her preparation.

She and her family visited EAA AirVenture for the first time this past July. She relished meeting new people who share her love of all things aviation. It’s hard for her to name one particular favorite part of the full week at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. She appreciates the warbirds and loves to see what the professional show pilots and planes can do during the air show performances. Taylor has shared her enthusiasm for airplanes with others each chance she’s gotten. She’s had several opportunities to share her passion with girl scout troops, EAA chapters, friends, and any other person or airport bum that will listen. Her eagerness to learn about flying hasn’t gone unnoticed. There have been several aircraft owners and pilots that have offered flights to Taylor in order to give her learning opportunities and keep her dream alive.

Taylor doesn’t just talk the talk, she takes action. When she has downtime between her homeschool lessons, she’s making candy and creating her one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry. She has a Square Up page and Facebook page where she sells her handmade candy and jewelry in order to raise money for flight training.

For me, hearing about Taylor’s excitement for aviation and her dreams of being a pilot, simply reignites my own appreciation of flight. It reminds me of this unique opportunity we have and the freedom we enjoy in the United States to be able to pursue whatever dreams we have. She lives a short 30 minute flight from my home and we have plans to fly together soon. Nothing would please me more than to feed that fire in her to one day be the captain of her own airplane.

Help Taylor fundraise for her flight training by visiting her Square Up page: http://squareup.com/store/ taylors-trinkets-and-treats OR her Facebook page: https://facebook.com/TaylorsTrinketsandTreats/

See her UPS “Wishes Delivered” video here: https://youtu.be/I2LfuVa94uE