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Arts & Life
The Clarion \ February 12, 2020
Senior profile
Grace Kelley is doing great things
By Carmen Boone
Copy Editor
Grace Kelley is a senior at Brevard College.
She will graduate in the Summer but will still
walk in May.
Her major is childhood education with a
concentration in elementary education but non
licensure. Her minor is wilderness leadership
(WLEE).
Kelley chose Brevard because she loves
the small feel. “I wanted to have the personal
connection with professors and I didn’t want
to be a number, I wanted them to know me as
a person,” Kelley said. “The professors here
know me as a person first and a student second.”
She also enjoyed the opportunities that BC
had (and still has) to be involved on campus.
The Methodist affiliation was just another plus.
In her free time, Kelley likes to spend some
time with her cat, Minerva, her emotional
support animal (ESA). She also enjoys
spending time with friends, especially when she
gets the chance to be outdoors. More recently
she has been teaching herself ukulele.
Another musical talent she has is the ability
to play the trombone. She has been in the Wind
Ensemble for six semesters now. It is something
that she has loved to do for a long time.
A couple other things Kelley is involved in
on campus includes IWIL, the Honors program
and being President of Canterbury Club, a club
associated with St. Phillip’s Episcopal Church
on Main Street.
She also spends her time as a work study,
formally known as a student ambassador, for
admissions. This job includes giving campus
tours, talking about her experience here and
doing a couple jobs around the office, but most
importantly, meeting prospective students and
their families.
When off campus, Kelley works with Brevard
First United Methodist Church by helping with
the youth group and teaching the high school
Sunday school.
There have been a couple classes that have
really made an impression on Kelley. The
first was Life in the Universe with Associate
Professor of Physics Mike Castelaz. She has
always been interested in astronomy.
“It was an absolute blast and he quickly
became one of my favorite professors,” Kelley
said. “He really reignited my love for science
and astronomy.”
The second class was Methods in Teaching
Math with Elizabeth Fuller. “I have always
been scared of math, math has never been my
strong suit, but she taught me to not be scared of
math,” Kelley said. “It wasn’t necessarily that I
was bad at math, but it was that I wasn’t taught
math in the correct way.” Learning that has
helped her tutor a fifth grader in math, among
the rest of the things in her busy schedule.
Everyone has people that have helped them
out and acted as mentors. Kelley mentioned
several faculty members here at BC.
She said campus minister Sharad Creasman
has been wonderful helping her out with
spiritual discernment. He has also just been
someone to talk and laugh with as well as a
great source of encouragement.
Administrative assistants Mary Harris and
Beth Banks have also been great with helping
Kelley navigate many of the things that come
along with college and classes. Nancy Willard
and Marie Jones helped her out a lot too with
navigating the library and finding what she
needed.
Professor Robert Dye has truly been
wonderful for helping Kelley navigate the
“WLEE world” as she called it. He has become
a great mentor and close friend of Kelley’s.
In the summertime, Kelley plans on doing a
practicum combining education and outdoor
ministry right before obtaining her degree.
In the fall following that, she wants to attend
seminary.
She has applied to multiple schools, but
intends to stay in the Western North Carolina
area. Her major goal is to become an ordained
deacon in the Methodist denomination. Her
focus will be outdoor ministry and young adult
ministry.
“I’m not going out thinking, T’m gonna make
a difference today,”’ Kelley said. “I’m doing
good things because that’s who I am and that’s
what has been instilled in me.”
Grace Kelley smiles for a photo on scholarship day.