GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The newest Meijer Scholar Athlete has a mindset that is out of this world.
City High School junior Taylor Pierce James is a star on the track.
She competes in the relays and the hurdles, which is where she stands out from the pack.
Outside of sports, Pierce James is also on the NAACP Youth Council and helps with the Urban League.
The junior also has a bright mind, and it's easy to see as she is in the National Honor Society with a 4.68 GPA.
Pierce James has a passion she discovered while watching Morgan Freeman "Our Universe" documentaries with her grandpa. She wants to go into a career in astrophysics.
"I guess mostly like the math and computer parts of it actually," Pierce James said. "I want to find planets mathematically in the universe. I don't want to go to them. But I want to be like, 'Hey, there's a planet, YOU should go there.' I just think it is really fascinating. There is always more to learn. You never stop learning about the universe. It's so far away but on a grand scale it is so close."
Pierce James plans to run in college, but does not know where yet. Wherever she decides to go is getting a shooting star.
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