Beyond The Game With Barnett

Note: The following appears in the December issue of Orange: The Experience. For full access to all of the publication’s content, join IPTAY today by calling 864-656-2115.

By Colby Lanham // Athletic Communications

Grace Barnett is a junior long-distance runner on the Clemson track & field and cross country teams. We recently caught up with Barnett to hear about some of her experiences, beyond the game.

Q. Where were you born?A. I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but I grew up in Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

Q. What is your major at Clemson?A. Elementary education.

Q. Why did you choose to major in elementary education?A. I taught Sunday school in high school and I was a part of the Teacher Cadet program. I actually didn’t apply to Clemson under education at first, but I changed my major at orientation. I’m really excited to be getting into my core education classes.

Q. What made you want to become an elementary school teacher?A. I’m Catholic and my mom taught a communion class all my life, and my sophomore year of high school, she decided to stop teaching it, but I loved watching her do it and helping her. So I decided to take on teaching the class. I got to help another lady do it my last few years in high school, and I absolutely loved it.

Q. What are your favorite classes at Clemson?A. I’ve really enjoyed my education literacy class that I’m taking right now. It’s a class that teaches us to teach kids how to read. I enjoy my special education class a lot as well.

Q. What career plans do you have?A. I want to work with children in impoverished areas after graduation. It’s something I’ve really wanted to do.

Q. Did you ever play any sports besides track & field?A. I played soccer from second grade to 10th grade and switched to track and have been running ever since.

Q. What are your parents’ professions?A. My parents are in the home improvement business and work at J Barnett Services Inc. My dad works more with the manual labor, while my mom works with more of the business aspect of the company by filing the paperwork and managing the business on a daily basis.

Q. Do you have any siblings?A. I have two sisters, an older and a younger. My older sister just graduated from Wofford and she is working and applying to law school. My younger sister is a freshman at Wofford.

Q. What are your favorite things to do in general?A. I love to read and I recently took up painting a short while ago. Whenever I’m back home, I like to go to the beach with my dog and garden. I also love spending time with my friends. We love going to Greenville.

Q. What are your favorite things to do in Clemson?A. I love going downtown, to Spill the Beans, cooking and watching Gilmore Girls with my roommates. My roommate, Evie Tate, and I spend a lot of time together. We cook dinner every night and sit down on Sundays to plan what our meals are going to be. We also play a lot of board games or watch Netflix.

Q. What is your favorite part about being at Clemson?A. The friends I’ve made. Most of them are on the team or in my major, and everyone at Clemson is so nice. There are so many great people here, and I’ve been really lucky to have some great friends here, especially the ones on the team.

Q. What are some interesting places you’ve visited?A. I haven’t been to a ton of places, but some cool places I’ve visited are Philadelphia, New York, Arkansas, Texas, Louisville, Virginia and Florida.

Q. How long have you been gardening?A. I used to garden with my mom when I was little, but this summer at my older sister’s graduation party, we went to get flowers for it and I got back into it that way. I remember spending my entire paycheck on flowers one time.

Q. What are your favorite books to read?A. My favorite book is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I pretty much read anything.