Teen of the Week: Parkersburg Catholic senior enjoys touches of the past while thinking of her future
Grace Sprout, center with her father Jeremy Sprout, back, sisters Hannah Sprout and Audrey Sprout, and mother Kelli Sprout at Niagara Falls in June. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout and her older sister Hannah Spout on a family vacation to Canada in May. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout at a Jonas Brothers concert in Cleveland a few weeks ago. Sprout said she loves going to concerts. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout at a tennis camp at Fairmont State University. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout, center, with her sisters Audrey Sprout and Hannah Sprout, after the Parkersburg Catholic High School production of “Crab Cakes and Murder” in April 2022. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout receives her cord for graduation at Parkersburg Catholic High School for being a member of the iBELIEVE Foundation. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout and Helena Teltscher turning off the microphones after Mass at Parkersburg Catholic High School. Sprout and Teltscher are the first female members of the tech crew at the school. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout attending an art show at the Parkersburg Art Center. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout, second from the left, poses for a picture after a basketball game with her grandfather Michael Flanagan, her grandmother Dianna Flanagan, her aunt Christi Greathouse and her greataunt Liz Galland. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout painting the senior wall at Parkersburg Catholic High School. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout, center with her father Jeremy Sprout, back, sisters Hannah Sprout and Audrey Sprout, and mother Kelli Sprout at Niagara Falls in June. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout and her older sister Hannah Spout on a family vacation to Canada in May. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout at a Jonas Brothers concert in Cleveland a few weeks ago. Sprout said she loves going to concerts. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout at a tennis camp at Fairmont State University. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout, center, with her sisters Audrey Sprout and Hannah Sprout, after the Parkersburg Catholic High School production of “Crab Cakes and Murder” in April 2022. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout receives her cord for graduation at Parkersburg Catholic High School for being a member of the iBELIEVE Foundation. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout and Helena Teltscher turning off the microphones after Mass at Parkersburg Catholic High School. Sprout and Teltscher are the first female members of the tech crew at the school. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout attending an art show at the Parkersburg Art Center. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout, second from the left, poses for a picture after a basketball game with her grandfather Michael Flanagan, her grandmother Dianna Flanagan, her aunt Christi Greathouse and her greataunt Liz Galland. (Photo Provided)
Grace Sprout painting the senior wall at Parkersburg Catholic High School. (Photo Provided)
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PARKERSBURG -- Parkersburg Catholic High School senior Grace Sprout has a love for all things vintage. Including vinyl records.
"I'm a listener. I love the sound of them," Sprout said. "I just think they have a certain sound to them, and I love them so much. And I have all sorts of genres. Anything you could think of I have."
She said she doesn't really have a favorite record but that she enjoys the way Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" sounds on vinyl compared to the technology available today.
"You can hear certain aspects you maybe didn't hear when you were listening on your phone," Sprout said. "During 'Bohemian Rhapsody,' they move from the left speaker to the right, and if you're listening on your phone, you can't hear that. On the record you can hear it so distinctly. I would have never known unless I listened to it on there."
Sprout said she has received records from all sorts of places. From people giving them to her after finding them in their garage to buying them new when she goes shopping with her father at the Knights of Columbus. She said it all began when her mother bought her a record player for Christmas when she was around 13. She said this was around the time she started getting into older things after doing a school project on the 1950s.
"So, my mom bought it for me and was like, 'I don't even know why I bought it. I just felt like you would like it,'" Sprout said. "I'm so glad that she did. Because I have loved it ever since. And I listened to it all the time."
Sprout said last year her grandfather gave her a Walkman and she has now started collecting cassettes.
"He gave me some cassettes with it," Sprout said. "And I've bought a couple because they're kind of cheap."
Sprout takes her ear for sound with her as she is part of the tech crew for the high school.
"I'm the first woman to do that here," Sprout said. "My friend wanted to do it and said she couldn't do it unless another girl does it, and I said, 'Lets do it!'"
Sprout said she does the sound for various events at the school including Mass.
"Tech crew does anything in the school dealing with electronics including screens and mics," Sprout said. "We sit up there and we turn on the microphones for people, turn them down, that kind of thing. It's a really good time."
Sprout said she loves all things vintage and has already started her collection of vintage furniture with chairs, glassware and other items for when she moves out of her parents' house. She said she even dreams of having a vintage 1970s home.
"My dream would be to have a house with one of those sunken in living rooms. I love them!," Sprout said. "I love the look of them."
Sprout said she plans to pursue a career in criminal justice as a detective because she likes solving mysteries.
"I love a good mystery. I love reading them, I love watching them," Sprout said. "Originally I wanted to forensic but then remembered that was science, and I am terrible with science. But I want to be the person that goes on the scene and is like, 'I think this is what happened.'"
Sprout said it's important to her to finish the things she starts.
"If you say you're going to do something, you need to do it," Sprout said. "Because if you don't, it makes you look like you're unreliable and people aren't going to ask you to do anything anymore."
Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com
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A Glance at Grace Sprout
* Senior at Parkersburg Catholic High School
* Senior class president
* Captain of the cheer squad
* Class president since 10th Grade
* Part of the drama club at PCHS
* Has participated in productions with the Actors Guild and MOV Players
* Painting a mural for the her school
* Photographer for the school yearbook
* Member of the iBELIEVE Foundation
* Plans to pursue a career in criminal justice
* Member of National Honor Society
* First female member of the tech and sound crew at PCHS
* Takes college courses as a senior
* On the tennis team
* Does sound work and volunteers at Stevenson United Methodist Church