Photo by Julianna S.
Grace Santin is a senior and the student body Prime Minister at St. Joseph’s Catholic High School. She attended St. John Vianney, at which she immersed herself in a multitude of clubs ranging from cross country, basketball, volleyball, art club, and student ambassadors. These activities helped Grace to learn and grow as a well-rounded individual and allowed her to explore many different paths and personal qualities.
The most significant changes during the high school transition were her ability to juggle more classes and having a lot more freedom and thus responsibility. Grace also found she was able to be more expressive and in turn, grew into her own person by not following the lead of others. Her academic confidence was also largely built by her pursuit and dedication in math and science in her years so far at St. Joseph's.
“I had always struggled with these subjects and assumed I would never be able to attain a good mark in something so complicated, although through my time at St. Joe’s I have discovered it is something I enjoy being challenged with.”
Grace plans to further her ambitions by applying for engineering programs around Ontario as well as encouraging more women to go into the field of STEM. Besides her academic career, Grace enjoys other activities like painting, camp counselling, socializing with friends and dancing as often as possible like a complete idiot (She’s not even joking about this one). Grace also works at the WFCU as a runner and plans to work at the aquatic center as a lifeguard this fall. Talk about busy!
Grace has accomplished amazing things over the past three years of her high school career--the most memorable being obtaining the positions of student trustee, and Prime Minister of St. Joe’s. She is proud to be herself unapologetically, and of the growth she has made as person over the last few years.
In the future, Grace would love to be an environmental engineer and an activist for the environment. As well, Graces hopes to influence the encouragement of women in stem based programs, and plans to do a double major at the university in engineering and business to further this passion. Failure and those who say “You can’t” have greatly influenced her dreams and pushes her more and more everyday to make them become a reality. Grace also realized she wishes to do good for our world and wants to encourage more women who feel undermined or less equipped that they can in fact succeed!
Despite the great achievements and growth Grace has made, she was also once a freshman going through the difficult transition from elementary to high school.
“The best advice I can give the grade nines is to try your hardest not to care about what others think (as cliche as that sounds).In a few years you won’t remember most of the foolish events that happen in high school and it won’t matter.”
Grace believes that starting a high school career being unconcerned about such qualms will greatly heighten the experience and make you a better person in the long run. Lastly, she strongly encourages to take all the classes you think you cannot do and try your hardest because it’s remarkable what you can do with a bit of motivation!