Academic Achiever of the Week: Grace Pedersen

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - Grace Pedersen is busy - to say the least. Throughout high school, she has played volleyball, clarinet, the drums, attended leadership programs, competed in pageants, volunteered at the Salvation Army, and more.

That entire mouthful with a 4.1 GPA.

As you may have guessed, she’s an organized, on-the-go type of person, something she shares with her mom.

Grace said, “We have these monthly times in the night where we just get out our calendars and just put fun stuff on them and we just plan together how our month is going to look like.”

Organization is an important quality for a student athlete. Grace has played varsity volleyball since she was a sophomore. She hopes to take her skills to a professional level but that’s not all it’s about. A natural-born-leader, she aims to raise her teammates spirits as well as the scoreboard.

“Whenever people are down, I’m trying to be the one who brings it back up and hurdles the team together so that’s really my main goal out there on the court,” she said.

Grace’s leadership skills are apparent with her history of marching to the beat of her own drum - literally. She was the first ever drum major at Parkersburg Catholic.

She explained, “So I’m the conductor basically. That’s what you’d call it - like in orchestra you’re the conductor and that’s what I did. It was really awesome and in parades I got to stand out in the front and I had this big stick. Yeah it was really fun.”

Grace takes her drive and passion off the courts as well. Community service has been a part of her life since she was young.

“I grew up living in a household where we do a lot of community service and, from a young age, that’s just what I’ve done and my parents never forced that on me. It’s just something I’ve wanted to do was just help others,” she said.

Grace has served the community through pageants and work with organizations such as United Way and the Salvation Army.

Beyond that, she plans to serve her country too. In fact, Senator Joe Manchin recently nominated her for the US Military Academy at West Point.

Grace may have a lot on her plate but her mentality towards life is surprisingly relaxed.

“I really just look up to my parents and they’ve always told me in my life just stay busy and have fun. Just do as much as you can and love every moment of it.”

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