Jim Six: Adele Ann Taylor, entrepreneur/humanitarian at 16
Staff photo by Tim HawkAdele Ann Taylor, 16, a Williamstown High School junior sorts books by grade for Adele's Literacy Library. Adele Ann Taylor is still only 16, but shes not only getting lots of books to people who need them, but shes partly responsible for the building of a library in Africa.
Adele, who lives in Monroe Township and is a junior at Williamstown High School, started Adeles Literacy Library when she was 13 years old because I wanted to prepare people of all ages to read.
Adele said statistics she has read indicate only one in five adults can read past a 5th grade level.
I couldnt imagine someone not knowing how to read because their parents cant read, she said.
When you speak with Adele, you could almost forget shes just 16 well, 17 in June.
Adeles Literacy Library is aimed at adults and kids and, for the most part, endeavors to put books in peoples hands. So far, the program doesnt include literacy tutoring, Adele said, but it is something shed like to consider in the future.
ALL is really an umbrella for several different programs, Adele explained, all of which are basically designed to inform people how important literacy is, and to emphasize that point, to give books away.
Theres Storytelling with Adele, which was the teenagers first program, which, just as youd expect, involved reading to folks of all ages, discussing literacy and giving away books.
Then, in 2010, came Read All You Can, or RAYC, designed for kids in first through fourth grades.
Again, it is what it sounds like: It urges the kids to read as many books as they can. Its currently being used in all fo! ur of Mo nroe Townships elementary schools, said Adele. In one exceptional month, 1,858 kids have read 16,720 books in the four schools, she said.
We first started at my alma mater, Oak Knoll School, in 2010. They did a fantastic job and read about 5,000 books in a month Adele said. In 2011, the other schools adopted it and they loved the idea, too. Its a fun way to promote literacy.
A third program is ALL Says GO or Adeles Literacy Library Says Global Outreach.
This is the program that built the library. ALL partnered with Under the Acacia, a non-profit group that works with remote communities in Kenya to generate initiatives that can be sustained to encourage community growth and development.
Our objective was to target areas with the highest illiteracy rate and then build libraries, Adele said.
In 2011, with Under the Acacia, ALL built its first library in Loita, Kenya.
Its not a large building. You wouldnt think much of it. But it will soon house 4,000 books, 26 laptop computers with Internet access and a reading center.
A plan was devised, money raised about $20,000 and Adeles organization received daily updates while the library was being built. Then they had to decide how the new library would work.
Would they be allowed to take the books out? We decided to give people a library card so they could take the books out, Adele said.
Btu how to stock it with books? The cost of shipping books from the U.S. to Kenya would be much too high.
We found a team member in Kenya who will actually buy the books. Thats still in the works. The librarys not actually stocked yet, she said.
Loita, according to Adele, is in the tribal lands of the Masai, known for their intricate bead work.
To personalize the library building, Adele and company collected 50,000 bottle caps, to represent beads.
The Masai women sorted them by styles and colors and decorated the outside of the walls of the library, Adele said.
While the Loita library is being sto! cked, AL L is taking on a new project, the Girls Book Club.
This will target 9- to 12-year-old girls who attend Title I schools. The point of the program is to build a positive lifestyle and provide them with role models, said Adele. We would read books that could influence them. The target date to launch the Girls Book Club is sometime in May.
We have a couple schools in mind, she said.
I asked her what it was like, a 16-year-old approaching school administrators about launching programs.
Being a teen entrepreneur, there are some advantages, and some disadvantages. Sometimes statistics blow them away. Sometimes, we have friends who help us get through to administrators.
And sometimes its, No, were OK, thank you.
Adele thinks of herself not only as a teen entrepreneur, but as a humanitarian.
So, with all the ALL projects, theres no time for anything else in her life, right?
Wrong.
Shes president of the DECA Club (Distributive Educational Cultural Academics) at school.
Shes also involved in a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People program called ACT SO Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics.
Adele used to play volley ball and she danced for 13 years.
In spite of all this, Adele has a down-to-earth attitude and a great sense of humor.
During the early, early morning telephone interview, I asked her what her plans were.
Well, to get dressed for school today, she said with a chuckle.
She likes to go rock climbing and ice skating and I love to paint my nails, sometimes in weird colors.
Despite that, Adele wants to go into corporate law.
Oh, and she has also participated in pageants under the Miss America corporate banner.
I won a couple local titles, she said. It helps with oral communication and confidence. Its been like free communication lessons.