As a sixth-generation Montanan, Grace has grown up with a deep love for Montana’s beauty and natural spaces. Her first concrete memory of learning about climate change was when she watched a documentary in middle school.

During her senior year of high school, Grace served as president of an environmental group called Students Against Violating the Environment (“SAVE”). They ran recycling/composting programs, managed a garden, built a greenhouse, and worked towards eliminating single-use plastic utensils in the school cafeteria. Outside of school, Grace worked on a project called BYO (“Bring Your Own”) that aimed to decrease plastic waste at restaurants in Missoula. She even worked with parents and teachers to implement climate change curricula in the local school district.

In her spare time, Grace loves to spend time with her friends and family in the outdoors. She has fond memories of going to Yellowstone National Park every year for her birthday and enjoys hiking, biking, camping, and learning to kayak. In high school, she played soccer and remembers the many times that games and practice were rescheduled or canceled due to smoke from wildfires. Grace feels that she is living with the consequences that result from her state government’s ongoing promotion of fossil fuels, and it deeply saddens her to know her government isn’t taking the climate crisis seriously.