Rockwall High School Orchestra Senior Spotlight: Grady Pennington

ROCKWALL, TX – December 21, 2021 — Grady Pennington is a Varsity Orchestra Senior at Rockwall High School. He attended Reinhardt Elementary and Utley Middle School. He has been playing the cello for seven years, is a three-time state qualifier in Solo UIL competition and was selected First Chair in 2020’s All-Region Orchestra.

Grady has a 5.165 GPA, is a Commended National Merit Scholar, and a member of the National Honor Society. He is a member of the Rockwall High School Varsity Swim and Water Polo teams. He also serves our community as a member of the Rockwall-Heath Chapter of Young Men’s Service League serving as Secretary, Vice President, and then President, earning multiple service awards. He works as a lifeguard for Rockwall ISD and in his spare time has earned his private pilot’s license.

Last summer Grady attended Texas Boys State where he was elected to office and wrote legislation that was passed and signed by the Boys State Governor. He completed a NASA internship, and his team’s work on using geospacial applications to analyze and predict the impacts of natural disasters was published in Earth and Space Science Open Archive.

Grady is planning on pursuing a degree in Computer Science or Applied Mathematics at the Air Force Academy or Naval Academy. He would like to attend graduate school and become a test pilot.

Grady is the son of Grant and Edie Pennington. He has an older brother, Thaddaeus and a younger sister, Anneliese.

Submitted by Edie Pennington.