During her final year at RJ Reynolds, senior Grace Gordon reflects on her highschool experience and her unforgettable memories. Gordon thrives in the Reynolds environment due to her creativity in the arts. She brings an element of positivity and individuality that shines throughout Reynolds, and leaves a significant mark to inspire her peers to be themselves. 

“I came to Reynolds for the theater program, and I was not disappointed,” Gordon said. “My favorite thing about high school was definitely our musicals and plays. I will certainly miss the adrenaline of opening nights and the overall process of putting shows together.”

The theater program offered Gordon many opportunities for her creative outlet, and it also helped her on her journey to find her people and close friends. Gordon naturally fits in with the theater community and is extremely grateful for the people she met within the program. 

“Theater offered me a community of the weirdest people who I’m happy to call my friends,” Gordon added. “I found people I clicked with almost immediately, and it was a place where I generally felt comfortable in my own skin and my strange clothes.”

Anyone who knows Gordon, knows that she expresses herself and her bubbly personality through the way she dresses. Gordon has a passion for fashion and is hoping to incorporate her love for clothes in her future. 

“Next year I’m majoring in fashion design at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York,” Gordon said. “My long term goals are to continue as a fashion major with a minor in sustainable studies and also maybe Japanese so that after college, I can create my own sustainable line of affordable clothes.” 

Gordon has many goals for her future, and Reynolds helped shape her desire to get into fashion design.

“Reynolds helped introduce me into the fashion realm,” Gordon said. “I had some friends freshman year whose styles I always admired, and because of that along with all the other ways people dress at RJR, I have gotten some fun inspiration.”

Gordon has spent the past four years learning, growing, and influencing those around her. She shares a piece of advice for anyone that is new to Reynolds and just now starting their journey in high school. 

“I would tell my younger self to open up more,” Gordon said. “ I’ve always been a pretty quiet person around new groups; I always felt like the way I talked or acted was too awkward for other people, so I was naturally shut off from people who I now am close friends with. I think knowing this sooner would’ve made freshman year easier.”

She has had a successful highschool experience and will continue her hopes and dreams as she takes on the Big Apple in the fall.