As sophomore class president, Grace James does a lot. However, James does more than many people realize—and with a serious speed bump slowing her down.

James is a part of not only the student council, but she has also participated in the National Beta club, student mentoring, theater, lacrosse, as well as still managing things and relationships outside of school. She’s also a part of an organization called Semper K-9, which allows her to take care of a dog for a couple months at a time before reuniting it with its veterans. 

“I’m a big procrastinator,” James explained. “So having a busy schedule makes me more motivated to do things.”

Keeping her grades up with all her activities was rough, but it became impossible once she got a concussion. James got her concussion whilst working on the set of the musical her freshman year. She hit her head underneath the stage in what seemed like a minor incident. Even though it’s been almost a year, James still struggles from the long-term consequences. 

She had to stop lacrosse and take a break from student council. This year, she had to stop swim because the exercise made her headaches worse. The musical was a no-go as well because of the constant doctors appointments that prevented her from going to rehearsal.

Fortunately, she had wonderful teachers who were patient and stayed after with her to work on her grades. Without the support of others, James says it would have been so much more difficult learning to adjust to the way her mind had started to work. It was frustrating to hear one thing and then forget it a minute later, but the patience of her friends and family helped to ease the transition. 

“My memory’s in the fifth percentile–which means 95 percent of people have a better memory than me,” James said. “I’m in cognitive therapy to improve it, but improving my memory is definitely going to be a long process.”

One of the first problems James had to learn to deal with was procrastination. Because she never knows when she will get a horrible headache, James has to do her work when she feels well enough to do it. In the beginning, James tried to work through her headaches, but quickly learned that doing so doesn’t get her anywhere.

Despite her many struggles, James continues to be an active member of several school clubs. She works with her teachers often, and finds that she needs to remind people every now and again that her brain isn’t healthy yet. With a lot of time and effort James will learn to live with her predicament.