“Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.” -Mother Teressa.
Being kind and happy naturally attracts people to an individual’s personality. While a few students roam the halls of Lakeland High School, spreading joy to others, one who stands out in particular is Gracie Taylor.
“I know what it’s like dealing with people who are always negative about absolutely everything or the ones who are so hard to pick up on whether they are kind or not. So, I try my best to stay positive and be a light. You are so much more inviting to people as well when you are positive right off the bat. It can really lower people’s guards, too,” Taylor said.
Taylor is a senior at Lakeland High School and one of the happiest, most caring people I know. She is easy to talk to and a joy to be around. Being around Taylor is like being around all of your favorite things in one room. She constantly makes people laugh and feel better after just a couple of words.
“Gracie always makes me feel so confident and immediately cheers me up when I’m in a bad mood without being prompted,” Rebekah Lewis said.
Taylor and Lewis have been friends since freshman year and enjoy talking and laughing with each other about school and other events. They go to the movies and talk about what they watched together. They also enjoy going out to lunch together and doing miscellaneous things like shopping. Lewis admires Taylor for her kind personality and her creativity.
I have never had a conversion with Taylor that has not made me feel happier and more contemptuous afterward. She is an amazing student, friend, athlete, and overall person. Seeing Taylor after a rough test in first period or even after a bad day is one of the things that I truly look forward to. Her happiness is truly contagious and instantly puts me in a better mood. Taylor is also one of the kindest people I know and easy to talk to. She makes her classmates feel heard, seen, and happy.
“Taylor is perhaps one of the nicest people I have met; she always has a smile on her face, which impacts everyone around her; she is a truly gifted person,” Michael Dunn said.
Dunn is Taylor’s photography teacher this year and has seen her strive in his class through her work and her ability to still enjoy herself. Taylor’s strong work ethic is something that Dunn enjoys most about having her in class.
“Sometimes, as teachers, we have rough moments, but when you have a student like that, it reminds you why you do the job, and it is fun to interact with those types of students,” Dunn said.
Taylor enjoys many things in her free time from work and school, like painting, shopping, and baking. Taylor’s mother and grandmother introduced her to baking at a young age, and she absolutely fell in love with the skill. Taylor sees baking as a therapeutic getaway. She enjoys getting in the zone and creating whatever her heart desires while baking. She believes eating and sharing what she bakes after is the best part of baking.
From someone who has had treats from Taylor, I can say that her sweets are pretty hard to beat.
Another therapeutic activity that Taylor loves to do is painting.
“I remember painting with my mom all the time when I was young; I would always get so jealous because hers would turn out so good, and mine would just be some sloppy eight-year-old painting,” Taylor said.
Taylor specifically watercolor color painting the moment and enjoys the freedom of just letting her creative ideas flow onto the canvas.
Taylor also enjoys going out and shopping. She loves to buy new things and find decor. She feels it is even better during the holidays because everything is so decorated it feels more justifiable.
“One thing I wish people would ask me more about is my dance life,” Taylor said.
Taylor dances for Arts to Motion Studio in Spokane and fell in love with it when she stepped into the building. After high school, Taylor hopes to make a career in dance. She hopes to go into the contemporary/modern world along with musical theater and Broadway. To accomplish this goal, Taylor must go to a contemporary-based company, train there, and perform. She would also like to become a choreographer and teach others what she has learned. Taylor has made some of her closest friends through dance and feels she connects with the people well.
“With my dance friends, I don’t have to pretend I like something. We can have our disagreements on things, but that doesn’t affect our friendship. I can do anything around them, and I wouldn’t feel secondhand embarrassment, which says a lot,” Taylor said.
Taylor cherishes the bond she has made with her dance girls and feels she can be her complete self around them. Even when they have not hung out together for a while, they always pick right back up where they left off.
Gracie Taylor is truly an amazing human being and is extremely talented. Stop and talk to her for a minute if you see her in the hallways or anywhere else this year. I promise it will be worth her while. If you are having a bad day, it will instantly make you feel better.
To end this article, Taylor would like to remind everyone that there is a past version of you who is proud of how far you have come.
