KU Scholar Athlete of the Month: Grace Jacobs
Staunch Defender Stays On the Move at LCA
School: Lex. Christian Academy
GRADE: 11 Sport: Soccer
Academics: Grace is a straight-A student who scored 30 on the ACT as a freshman. She plays classical guitar and is a math tutor.
Parents: Jennifer & Michael
A mid all the roles that keep Grace Jacobs busy – straight A student, classical guitar player, math tutor, community volunteer, all star soccer player – she also keeps her bags packed.
Soccer already has taken her across the Atlantic to Holland and will do so again in the spring when she travels with her Olympic Development Program team to Liverpool, England.
This past summer she made the final US Youth Soccer ODP Region II player pool after traveling to Michigan for camp.
Of course, that’s in addition to the year-round travel on weekends with her Lexington FC premier team.
With all that travel, it’s a wonder the high school junior can maintain such a busy life in the classroom.
It’s been nothing but A’s for Grace for as long as anyone can remember. She scored 30 on the ACT – as a freshman.
She took one A.P. class as a sophomore, is taking four this year and will take four or five next year.
She’s a member of the National Honor Society and the math National Honor Society. To raise money for her ODP trips abroad, she tutors younger students in math.
As a volunteer, she has worked with consignment sales and Sweet Blessings Cakes, and packed Christmas boxes to be delivered to children in other countries.
In middle school, her aquaponics experiment made her a state science fair champion, and she even took a cooking class and made Rhubarb Crumble.
An avid reader, she tackled Barbara Bush’s autobiography just for fun and enjoys historical fiction.
Her parents describe Grace as a hard-working, efficient and proactive time manager. Grace agrees.
“I plan my work and set my own deadlines,” she said. “I have to stay up late sometimes to make sure I get everything done.”
In soccer, the 5-foot-4, 120-pound midfielder cracked the LCA varsity as a freshman when she won the Coach’s Award. As a sophomore she was selected to the All-A state team and made her first varsity penalty kick in an All-A semifinal victory for LCA.
On the trip to Holland last spring, she trained with professional coaches and visited Rotterdam, The Hauge and Amsterdam. She will train with her ODP team again in Liverpool next spring.
Her goals are to play well in Liverpool and in the Club season, and play soccer in college while majoring in pre-med.
“She is very fast and a staunch defender,” her mother Jennifer said.
“She sees the field well, sets up other players and can thread a needle with a pass. She’s just a tough little defender.”