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Rotary honor recognizes Pruitt's leadership Grace Pruitt Thursday Oct 13, 2016 at 12:01 AM Local report The Rotary Club of Ashland has named Grace Pruitt, a senior at Ashland High School, as the Ashland Rotary Student of the Month for October, 2016. She will be honored at the regular Rotary meeting on Thursday, Oct. 13. Grace, the daughter of Anne Marie and Lee Pruitt, was born and raised in Kenya, East Africa until she was 12 years old, at which time she came to the United States and to Ashland. She is an accomplished actor with Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where she has been an understudy for a role in "Great Expectations" and in prior seasons appeared as Outlaw in "Two Gentlemen of Verona" and Fairy in "Midsummer Night's Dream," as well as ensemble roles. She has also appeared and starred in Ashland High drama productions and in the past has performed in productions at Ashland Middle School and Rogue Valley Youth Chorus. Grace has a long list of activities and leadership accomplishments. At Ashland High she has been active as the founder and president of the Change Project, a club created by her to provide a safe and welcoming place for discussions of race and other subjects of controversy. She is vice president of Project Up, a program that matches students with disabilities with other typically developing peers in activities and performances. Ashland High Principal Erika Bare noted "This is such a special project, and much of its success is due to Grace's work." She has also been a counselor for Fresh Start, a program for upperclass members to welcome incoming freshmen, giving them stability and confidence when entering their high school years. Grace was a primary organizer and master of ceremonies of the Ashland High Martin Luther King assembly last year and this year is the editor of the year book. Bare noted that Grace took on those responsibilites "while maintaining Honor Roll status in a very rigorous academic course load." "She is a wonderful person with a huge heart," Bare said.