Do you know young people with the sky as their limit?
Tell them they can dream even larger and meet real-life astronaut Mae Jemison at the 2026 Fall Fest and Slammin’ Rhymes Challenge XX.
The all-ages, free event is from noon to 4 p.m. Nov. 21 at Central Library, 40 E. St. Clair St.
Families attending Fall Fest will get to hear from Jemison, who made history as the first Black woman to travel into space. Jemison is an engineer, physician and entrepreneur and she served aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992. Today, she leads 100 Year Starship (100SS), a global project working to make human travel to another star system possible within the next century.
The event will also celebrate young rhyme artists with the Slammin’ Rhymes Challenge XX showcase. Students in grades sixth through 12th will present original poetry, rap and spoken-word pieces based on this year’s theme: “Strength.”
Previous Fall Fest keynote speakers include Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt and George Jenkins — also known as The Three Doctors — and Yolanda Renee King, the 15-year-old granddaughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, who’s an activist and an author.
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