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Updated: May 30, 2024 @ 8:09 am
Grace Thompson, a senior at Carpinteria High School, earned multiple scholarships for her work as the community outreach student director, a position she created.
Grace Thompson, a senior at Carpinteria High School, earned multiple scholarships for her work as the community outreach student director, a position she created.
Setting oneself apart in a sea of college applicants is a goal of almost every graduating high school senior, but Carpinteria High School’s (CHS) Grace Thompson took her ambition a step further by creating a position for herself: community outreach student director for the CHS Muses.
Thompson has been a member of the Muses, a theater performance group at the high school, since her freshman year. Around her sophomore year of high school, Thompson said she noticed students showing a greater interest in sports, as opposed to theater, for an extracurricular activity. As a longtime theater student, Thompson wanted to do something to encourage students to join the Muses.
Inspired by her mother, who works in public relations for the Walt Disney Company, Thompson decided to create a position for herself that would allow her to promote the program.
“I have been in theater since elementary school, it’s a very deep passion of mine,” Thompson said. “This position combined both of my interests.”
Thompson pitched her idea to the school’s administration. She received their approval and officially took on the responsibility of public relations during her second year of high school.
Thompson also regularly performs with the Muses; she recently performed as Dorothy and a member of the Lollipop Guild in the Muses’ Spring musical, “The Wizard of Oz.”
In her three years as community outreach student director, Thompson has gone above and beyond to promote the Muses. Her regular duties include sending out press releases regarding the group’s upcoming shows, responding to media questions, hosting the lunchtime photobooth at CHS to promote shows, digitally creating and producing banners, creating table-top signs and representing the Muses at open houses and community events.
“Grace has done a fantastic job as our community outreach student director over the past few years,” said Elise Unruh, director of the CHS Muses. “She is very organized and detail-oriented, and has taken care of press releases, putting up posters and on-campus publicity via a fun booth with snacks and other treats before each of our productions.”
For the Muses most recent show “The Wizard of Oz,” Thompson made an appearance on KEYT where she spoke about the program and promoted the show while dressed as Dorothy.
“She really went above and beyond on our most recent show, ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ by arranging to go on KEYT, where she showed immense poise,” Unruh said. “I was proud to have her as our spokesperson.”
Despite her ambitious extracurriculars, Thompson remained an honor student for most of her high school career, and earned several scholarships from colleges she had applied to, including Penn State Main Campus, Belmont University and High Point University. Thompson said she was interested in smaller colleges, due to her preference for smaller class sizes and communities.
Thompson will be attending Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, in the fall, where she will major in communications. In the future, Thompson said she hopes to continue her work in public relations – possibly, like her mother, at the Walt Disney Company.
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Carpinteria Magazine Winter 2024
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