trevordayschool

Opposite page: Grace with her brother, Jake '18, at her graduation in 2009. is page from top to bottom: Representing Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Grace reads her remarks and presents a plaque honoring Trevor Day School to Head of School Scott Reisinger, at a community event in December 2015. Councilman Ben Kallos is to her right; Grace with the Congresswoman in November 2014; Grace with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in August 2015; Grace with former President Clinton in November 2015. 3 7 T R E V O R D AY S C H O O L n WINTER 2 0 1 6 – 2 0 1 7 friends and needed somewhere to hang out during a free period. He helped to guide my college essay, and reviewed my application with me. He went so far above and beyond what was required of a teacher. You know how people say that there is one teacher who stays with them the rest of their lives? For me, that's Jason Tarbath. Now, while I wax poetic about Mr. Tarbath, I would be remiss to ignore the impact other teachers had on my life. I was a student who, to be blunt, sometimes didn't get along with my classmates. My teachers were a different story. I loved spending my free periods at one desk or another, and no one ever turned me away or made me feel like a nuisance. At Trevor, I learned how to be comfortable interacting with people who "outranked" me, which was invaluable in college, and has been a huge part of why I have been successful in my career. I learned very early on that status or power might require a level of respect, but at the end of the day, everyone is a person. ere's no need to be intimidated by someone just because of his or her title, which is a lesson that comes in handy every time I have to interact with an elected official, director of an organization, newspaper publisher, or anyone else I come into contact with in the course of a day. I don't get tongue- tied, and I am able to make my position understood respectfully, but clearly and forcefully. ere's nothing quite like running a press conference and telling a handful of members of Congress and a smattering of city council members where to stand and whose turn it is to speak. at takes poise and confidence, which might have taken me a lot longer to learn if I didn't have Trevor to start teaching me early on. I have never allowed myself to be bullied or ignored just because I'm young, and I have seen many of my contemporaries incapable of doing the same. Every minute of these last three years has challenged me in different ways, but there was never a moment when I doubted that I would figure it out. I like to think that self-assuredness is something I learned—or at least started to learn— while at Trevor. For all my quirks and flaws, Trevor always gave me a place where I felt accepted, if not always among some peers, then certainly among the community as a whole. It was a place where who I was was exactly good enough. at has stuck with me and has given me the will to power through any difficult situation. If I was good enough for Trevor, I'm certainly good enough for the rest of the world. n

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