For the hard work Stillwater Christian School junior Grace Anderson has poured into academics, art, music and athletics, she has found success, which she passes on in her leadership roles.

“Grace Anderson is a well-rounded scholar who has a passion for serving others. While maintaining a 4.0 GPA (unweighted), she goes out of her way to serve her school and community,” said Stillwater Student Success and Leadership Coordinator Michelle Fetveit in her nomination letter for Anderson to be a Today’s Achievers, Tomorrow’s Leaders honoree.

The Today’s Achievers, Tomorrow’s Leaders program recognizes the academic achievement and community involvement of high school students who contribute to improving the lives of others. The award is sponsored by Kalispell Regional Healthcare in collaboration with the Daily Inter Lake. In addition to the recognition, honorees choose a school club or activity to receive a $250 donation. She plans to donate the money to the high school art program.

Art is Anderson’s favorite subject.

“I‘ve always loved to create, whether drawing, or designing, or taking pictures and editing. I love creating,” Anderson said.

Recently, oil paints have been her medium of choice.

“It was definitely challenging for me, but I found it can really add a lot of texture to a painting and the paint is really pigmented,” Anderson said.

Since oil paint doesn’t dry immediately it allows the painter to take their time and requires patience.

“It’s a very long process,” Anderson said, “I’d say the time it takes makes it more rewarding when you finish the piece.”

Her artistic talents earned honorable mention in the Congressional Art Contest.

MUSIC IS also a part of her life and she is in band and choir. For the past four years, she has played bassoon in the school band and wind ensemble. She was also in the jazz band, which was put on pause this year due to numbers, but not before she earned the Buddy DeFranco Outstanding Musician award at the Buddy DeFranco jazz festival at the University of Montana.

“It’s a little bit of a weird instrument. It’s a double-reed instrument,” Anderson said. “It definitely took adjusting to play a double reed and the fingering is complicated.”

Anderson is not one to shy away from a challenge. Math proved to be a difficult subject for her.

“Growing up it was fairly challenging for me,” Anderson said. “I’ve had to work really hard to get that grade, especially at the high school level.”

The hard work paid off and she even went on to become an elementary math tutor.

“Going through that process helps me understand how they feel because I've been in their place and I know how it can be hard and challenging,” Anderson said.

She is also a Classic Learning Test distinguished scholar based on her score of 97 out of 120. The test is an alternative to standardized college entrance exams such as the ACT and SAT.

She partly attributes her work ethic to attending Stillwater.

“I would say there’s a lot of really bright students in my class. Very smart kids, very dedicated, very intelligent, and I think that motivated me as well. Having those people around pushes me to study hard and excel in that way,” she said.

Tutoring was also an avenue for her to fulfill community service hours as a National Honor Society member. In addition, she has served as a volleyball camp coach, vacation Bible school and nursery volunteer at Faith Covenant Church, Big Sky Bible Camp Leader in Training and uses her artistic skills to help others through baking cupcakes, which she often donates for nonprofit fundraisers.

“I love to bake. I've been baking cupcakes whenever an occasion seems to pop up,” she said, which has included large-scale events that take careful planning.

One of the leadership roles she has taken on at school is serving as a “house captain.” House captains are responsible for mentoring up to 25 seventh- and eighth-graders, who participate in competitions, retreats and meetings to build community.

ANDERSON SAID it’s been difficult this year to participate in all aspects of the program due to COVID-19 restrictions on social distancing and gatherings of large groups, but students are trying to make do.

“We’ve been working to reach out to people in our house by email or leaving notes in their lockers and one-on-one. I'd say it’s way more challenging,” Anderson said about making those connections. “Students are getting tired of everything being done by email and online. It’s hard to cut out another part of face-to-face connection.”

In addition to academics, she is also a volleyball player and team captain. Last year, she also played basketball. Keeping up a 4.0 GPA and playing sports has meant many late nights, yet also taught her to persevere.

“I learned not to put my identity in volleyball and do my best,” she said.

The same goes for grades, she said.

“I learned to put my identity in Christ and who I am as a person.”

As the oldest sibling in her family, taking on more responsibilities was something she naturally transitioned into. She said there’s always room for continued growth in her leadership ability.

In describing what a leader is, Anderson said she thinks it can be anyone with influence.

“I think if you have influence you can be a leader whether through serving, helping others, or building a relationship — your leadership can have an impact on others’ lives,” Anderson said, noting that people may be in positions of direct leadership, or they may be “people quietly leading by example.”

“I think probably the most important trait [of a leader] is humility and that sounds counterintuitive to our culture today,” she said.

“When a leader, whether you’re the CEO of a company or team captain, it’s your job to get a group of people to accomplish a goal. Obviously, you're the head of what’s going on — telling people what to do to accomplish goals — at the same time you’re serving. You have to put yourself last to put the team first. You're humbling yourself to accomplish your goal. To accomplish the work.”

Nominate a student at krh.org/TomorrowsLeaders.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com