Vote for Christina-Taylor Green for Student Council
I would like your vote today so I can help you get what you want out of our school. I will work hard to make Mesa Verde a better place for all of us. Do you have good ideas to help our school? Then vote for Christina-Taylor Green and I will make it happen!
-Christina-Taylor Green student council election flier, 2010
Christina-Taylor Green borrowed her dad's computer to make the flier she circulated when she ran for student council last year. The third-grader, who was considering a career in politics, put a photo of herself on the flier, too.
The 9-year-old girl's life was cut short on Jan. 8 while she was standing in line outside a local supermarket to meet her congresswoman, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
But her aspirations to help others are carrying on in a young woman who was also in line to see Giffords on that tragic day.
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Eighteen-year-old Emma McMahon this summer was the recipient of the first annual Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Scholarship through a Washington D.C.-based group that aims to educate young women about politics. As part of the program, McMahon traveled to D.C. for a week, where among other things she toured the State Department, met Chan Heng Chee, the female ambassador to Singapore, and spoke with Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who represents Alaska in Congress. The scholarship covered all her expenses for the week.
Like Christina-Taylor, who was part of the local charitable organization Kids Helping Kids, McMahon has always looked at politics as a way of furthering a commitment to help others less fortunate than herself.
She's been accepted to Wellesley College and will start there next year. Among her inspirations were two of the college's alumni - Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright. "When I think of Christina-Taylor I see in her my younger self," said McMahon, a 2011 graduate of Salpointe High School who is studying in Germany this year. "We both grew up in northwest Tucson - her house is only about 5 miles away from mine. We both have brothers, and we were both active in the community. She was a girl with great dreams, and she could have contributed so much in her life."
The day she died, Christina-Taylor had been hoping to talk to Giffords about the Gulf oil spill and a career in politics. One of the little girl's neighbors - Suzi Hileman - took her to the Safeway that day. While they were in line, Hileman told Christina-Taylor that she could grow up to be like Giffords one day. They were close to the front of the line when a gunman opened fire.
Christina-Taylor was the youngest person in line that day.
Most of those in attendance were retirees, but there was one family, too.
McMahon, then 17, stood with her mother, younger brother and father toward the end of the line. During the summer of 2010, McMahon was part of the U.S. House of Representatives Page Program and lived in a dormitory in D.C. But she never had a chance to get a photo taken with her Tucson congresswoman, which is why she put on her best clothes on the morning of Jan. 8 and headed out to Safeway.
"Whenever I saw her on the floor, I was inspired and adopted her as a role model. So, on Jan. 8 I insisted my parents go and meet her, too," McMahon said of Giffords.
When the shots rang out, McMahon's brother and father were standing far enough away to avoid the shower of bullets that hit the crowd and killed six people, including Christina-Taylor. McMahon and her mother, Mary Reed, were directly in the line of fire. Reed pushed her daughter against a wall and shielded her. Reed, who was one of 13 people injured by gunfire that day, took bullets in both arms and her lower back. She has since recovered. McMahon escaped injury.
McMahon did not see Christina-Taylor in line that day, but says that as she moves forward in her life, the little girl will never be far from her thoughts.
"When you are part of a tragedy such as the shooting it it hard to forget the people who were there with you," McMahon said. "Although I never met Christina-Taylor, I know her memory will stay with me, encouraging me to serve others."
McMahon said as much in the essay she penned to apply for the Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Scholarship. The annual scholarship each summer will go to a girl from Southern Arizona.
"Many people have asked me whether the shooting has changed my mind about wanting to go into politics. 'Absolutely not,' is my answer," McMahon wrote. "I still want to serve my country, and, if she had lived, I think Christina-Taylor would have said the same thing."
Christina-Taylor's parents, John and Roxanna Green, read all the applications and later had a chance to meet McMahon.
"It was meant to be. I was thrilled she got it and she deserves it. She is an amazing young woman," Roxanna Green said. "I know my daughter would have grown up to be someone like her."
LOCAL EVENTS
The local Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Foundation will sell Christina-Taylor Green memorial items today from 1 to 4 p.m. in the center courts of both Park Place mall and Tucson Mall. Christina-Taylor was born on Sept. 11, 2001.
From 3 to 6 p.m. Sept. 25 representatives of the nonprofit foundation will be at the University of Arizona Mall in conjunction with the National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims.
The foundation is looking for new, unused toys for a holiday toy drive with other local agencies called "Stuff the Hummers," set for 10 a.m. Dec. 10 at Sullivan's Steak House, 1785 E. River Road. For more information and additional collection sites, go to www.stuffthehummers.com
For more information about the foundation, which aims to help local children in need, go to www.christina-taylorgreen.org or email christina_taylorgreen@yahoo.com
"Many people have asked me whether the shooting has changed my mind about wanting to go into politics. 'Absolutely not,' is my answer. I still want to serve my country, and, if she had lived, I think Christina-Taylor would have said the same thing."
Emma McMahon,
scholarship recipient
Contact reporter Stephanie Innes at sinnes@azstarnet.com or 573-4134.
