Updated 5 hours ago
Recent Greensburg Salem High School graduate Taylor Sharp never imagined she’d become an internet sensation when she penned her senior research paper on vaccines.
But that was before she noticed a post on Twitter last month.
“Somebody tweeted ‘why don’t we leave people who choose not to vaccinate alone.’ And I thought since I know about that I should type up what I know and maybe it will show why it’s important,” Sharp said. “Even if you think you can fight it off, what about the babies who haven’t been immunized yet or the old people?”
She quickly tweeted off a list of 12 childhood diseases that are preventable through vaccination and added a string of other tweets with her findings.
“After that I left for Puerto Rico for a mission trip to help rebuild there. And when I woke up there the next morning, my phone was on two percent because notifications had been exploding,” she said.
As of Friday, her tweets had registered more than 4 million views around the world.
“I think my mom was more excited than me. She and my dad have always taught me to speak my mind. That’s why I posted it,” Sharp said.
In Great Britain, the Daily Mail wrote about how the 18 year-old woman’s tweets had gone round the globe. Closer to home, the website Scary Mommy featured her. Others followed suit.
“It really floored me. It made me super proud,” Becky Sharp said of the reaction to her daughter’s tweets.
Taylor Guido, the Greensburg Salem biology teacher who coached the varsity volleyball team that Sharp led last year as captain, said it’s not uncommon for Sharp to speak out about her beliefs.
I’ve known Taylor since her freshman year. She’s got a great heart. She’s passionate about sharing the things she believes in and sharing them from a good place,” Guido said.
High school Principal David Zilli said Sharp stood out as a leader among her classmates and a student who seemed to be perpetually upbeat.
Zilli said he learned about Sharp’s brush with celebrity on Twitter when a Greensburg Salem graduate he’s had as an English teacher years earlier reached out to tell him about it.
The eldest child of Gary and Becky Sharp—she has a brother A.J., a year younger— said she chose to research vaccines after several students came down with whooping cough and she learned that there were still those adamantly opposed to the simple shots that can provide a shield against infection.
There were a few negative replies among the thousands who reached out to her after her tweets took off. But, Sharp said that didn’t bother her.
Working with youngsters in her part-time job as a birthday party hostess at Chuck E. Cheese, and in the Greensburg Salem program that sends high school foreign language students into the elementary schools to help teach, Sharp developed a passion for children and a genuine concern for their health.
She’s s getting ready for move-in day at Slippery Rock University where she plans to major in international elementary education.
“She’s going to make a great teacher,” Becky Sharp said, beaming at her daughter.
Deb Erdley is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Deb at 412-320-7996, derdley@tribweb.com or via Twitter @deberdley_trib.
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