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Taylor Ricci is a former elite gymnast who competed at both the national and international levels for Team BC and Team Canada prior to receiving a full-ride Division 1 scholarship, where she represented Oregon State from 2013-17. Serving as Team Captain her senior year, Taylor helped her team reach the NCAA Regional Championships from 2013-17 and the NCAA National Championships in both 2015 and 2017. Off the competition floor, Taylor graduated as a 3-time 1st team Academic All-American and in 2017 was nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year.
Taylor completed her undergraduate education in Kinesiology, Pre-Therapy and Allied Health, with a minor in Chemistry and certificate in Medical Humanities. While at OSU, Taylor found herself involved in a variety of opportunities, including serving as the PAC-12 student-athlete representative on the Division 1 National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. This led to her serving as chair for the NCAA Board of Directors Student-Athlete Engagement Committee and thereafter sitting on the NCAA Strategic Planning Committee.
During her final year as a student-athlete, Taylor joined forces with another OSU student-athlete to co-found an organization called “Dam Worth It” which is now a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that utilizes the influential platform of sport and the power of storytelling to end the stigma around mental health. To date, Dam Worth It provides a means for student-athletes at OSU, and five other NCAA affiliated institutions, to use their voice to raise awareness around mental health.
Currently, Taylor is completing her final year of Medical School at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC and plans to pursue a career in Orthopedic Surgery where she can combine her ongoing passion for sports and medicine.