Grace Carroll

Senior Grace Carroll is a product of many different places, languages and passions: Hong Kong and San Francisco, English and Chinese, writing and activism. Yet despite her many talents, she spends plenty of time ensuring that those around her discover their own passions.After bouncing between Hong Kong and San Francisco, Carroll spent her first year in high school at a Californian day school. In only a few months, Carroll decided to apply to Exeter. “I realized how small my world had become in freshman year,” she said. “Before, I had a very international, very ‘big’ experience. However, at my old high school, my grade had only eighty students, and it was composed largely of white and privileged students. I realized that I wanted something different from my high school experience.”Carroll came to Exeter as a new lower. Her confidence and diverse interests were apparent from the beginning, according to alumna Tricia Moriarty ’18. “My first impression of Grace was definitely a great one,” Moriarty said. “She spoke with such elegance and confidence and seemed to be thriving even as a new lower, despite how difficult coming in as a new lower can be.”After her first year at Exeter, Carroll quickly pursued one her chief passions—writing. “She had an internship the summer after her lower year where she was actively contributing to a publication,” Moriarty said. “That is something that amazes me; her ability to craft written pieces is astonishing.”English Instructor Mercedes Carbonell praised Carroll’s unique mastery of words. “With poetic, lyrical, beautifully woven imagery, depth of relationship, contrasts, she creates a powerful mood of desire [in her pieces]: to know more deeply, intimately, to understand another with compassion,” Carbonell said.Carroll has also spent time serving on the 140th Board of The Exonian as a Life Editor. Senior and fellow former Life Editor Hillary Davis appreciated Carroll’s dedication to the newspaper during their tenure. “I missed the publication of the first issue because I was away at The Mountain School, and Grace was super helpful in January in teaching me how to use InDesign to lay out the articles,” she said.Carroll added that The Exonian served as both an outlet to utilize her love of writing and meet her new school community. “The Exonian was incredible because it opened up Exeter in a new way to me,” she said. “I had never written for a paper before, but I discovered that I loved journalistic writing. I’ve always had an affinity for writing, but I've never really known how to use it.”Outside of the newsroom, Carroll uses her sharp thinking and phrasing skills to contribute to her classes at the Harkness table. Senior Reina Matsumoto claimed that Carroll is “one of the brightest people [she] knows…Grace and I first met in my lower spring Art and the State class,” Matsumoto said. “She’d always back up my points in a much more succinct language and eventually we got close from sitting next to each other every day in class.”Carbonell noted a similar trend, describing how Carroll shined in her English class. “A consummate facilitator, engaged and inquisitive in authentic and sophisticated ways, Grace is a gift to have in an English class, to linger into a conversation with, to witness with her peers,” Carbonell said. “She is alert to staying true to what is on her mind and what she can use the Harkness seminar table to unravel with her colleagues.”As a student who participates in all different aspects of student life at Exeter, Carroll has learned how to balance many positions of leadership gracefully. Davis described how Carroll transitioned from her term abroad in Stratford, England, to her role as a cohead of Exonians Against Sexual Assault (EASA). “It has been really inspiring watching how easily Grace took up her position as a co-head of EASA,” Davis said. “She knows how to take charge and lead people in a powerful manner without stepping on others' toes. Having worked with her and having watched her work with others, I can confidently say that Grace is both a leader and a team player.”Senior and fellow EASA cohead Jane Collins admires how enthusiastic Carroll is about the club’s mission and her commitment to leading the club. “As an EASA cohead, Grace is a strong voice in every discussion and it’s so helpful to have her back from England,” Collins said. “She’s incredibly passionate and it shows in her work ethic. She’s always enthusiastic about new ideas for the club and quick to work on implementing them.”Carroll believes that the powerful message of EASA, which she gravitated to the start of her Exeter career, has taught her about the importance of educating others at Exeter and in the world beyond. “When I came to Exeter and EASA showed up in my dorm common room and began a dialogue, I felt like they were finally talking about dynamics I had observed for so long,” she said. “We, as EASA, want to understand why these things happen and we want to get people aware of the smaller, less obvious things that you see in your everyday life. We want people to understand that these unhealthy cultures that we live in aren't really normal.”As a proctor in Dunbar Hall, Carroll has been able to help shape the dorm’s culture firsthand. “I have so much gratitude for the community that Dunbar is,” she said. “This group of girls is incredibly supportive of each other, who perhaps don’t know their neighbors but have this love for each other and respect for each other.”Throughout the ups and downs of Exeter life, Carroll is not afraid to keep on making friends, according to Moriarty. “Grace was always so kind to me and knew how to brighten my day by giving heartwarming compliments, which helped so much on the hardest days at Exeter,” Moriarty said. “Overall, she is willing to sit down and chat at anytime and seems to foster mature yet fun loving friendships.”Masumoto added that Carroll displays exceptional emotional intelligence that allows her to make each one of her friends feel appreciated. “Not only is she smart in class but she’s smart with people, always able to understand how they’re feeling and the best way to cheer them up,” Masumoto said. “She’s outgoing and always puts other people before herself, encouraging the entire Exeter community to be a little bit more like her.”Collins also noted that Carroll is a great person to reach out to when one needs support. “Grace is always my first call when I’m stressed with work,” Collins said. “She cares about everyone so much and is a great friend.”All in all, Moriarty concluded that Carroll has a palpable positive effect on the Exeter campus. “Grace knows how to effectively communicate about serious and sensitive topics and she is one hundred percent willing to hear out the perspectives of arguments,” Moriarty said. “She’s so incredibly warm-hearted, and I know she is a role model for many Exonians. Grace definitely makes Exeter a better place.”