Grace Seal – EM Resident Spotlight

Eagle Mountain has some very talented young people that are part of the Class of 2020. With the new Cedar Valley High School coming online this year, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic it has made for a very interesting year for the graduating classes (Cedar Valley, and Westlake). One of the exceptional young people graduating this year is Grace Seal. Grace and her family have lived in Eagle Mountain for 3.5 years. The Seal family is a family of 7. Rich and Julie have 5 children and 1 Great Dane. They have been married for 19 years. Rich took a fencing class from Julie as a PE elective at UVU and, as Rich says, “and we hit it off.” Rich explains why they moved to Eagle Mountain, “In many ways we have found the quiet side of Eagle Mountain that we were looking for. We enjoy the summers evenings out here, with the opportunity to have space from neighbors and not be right on top of each other.” The outdoor activities provided around Eagle Mountain are perfect for this active family. “We are a active family, we rode bike, love to boat at Lake Powell, be outdoors, and travel. Fencing is something that we all do, all the way down to Bubba at age 6. We built a fencing studio at our home here in Eagle Mountain to train in, as well as we have a training center we run in Orem.” The training center they run in Orem is called Valkyrie Fencing. The Seal family are avid fencers. Rich and Julie found each other fencing. “The Fencing story started a long time ago with Julie, my wife. She began fencing for BYU when they had a team. From that time, she has gone on to earn 10 national championships, and compete on the US team at the Pan American Games earning 2 bronze medals. She was the first US woman fencer to win a world cup in Sabre in New York, and has over 50 national medals to date and is still competing.” Rich explains, “Grace is her mothers best friend, and began to fence with her at the age of 6. She loves the sport, and has found a great deal of success in it, despite being just a smidge over 5 feet tall. It is not through sheer strength or size, but speed and agility that gives Grace the ability to do so well in the sport. Like many small athletes, they have to work a bit harder.” “Grace decided at the age of 13, shortly after moving here to Eagle Mountain, that she wanted to compete nationally in fencing and to fence NCAA. She wanted to represent the USA as a team member and fence all over the world. Grace had been very successful on the local level of fencing, but the national level was something her mother knew was completely different. Grace began to travel across the country with Julie as her coach. As you might expect, the beginning was filled with defeat, the pressure of expectations, and a lot of disappointment. Grace decided to become a nationally rated referee in fencing also, to help earn money to support all of the travel and to become more proficient at the sport. Her travel was difficult for public school policy to handle with attendance standards, so Grace enrolled in Mountain Heights academy, a Utah online charter school, so she could do her homework on planes, road trips, and hotel rooms between competitions. One thing about Grace is she always gets back up. She has continued to pursue perfection and worked extremely hard at both school and fencing. The results began to come in, and at Summer Nationals 2018 in St Louis Missouri, Grace finally won her first national medal in her division after an 11 hr competition. She continued to work hard, to move higher in the point standings, and she wanted to earn the right to represent the USA at World Cup competitions. The spots for the teams are highly sought after and are given to people based on points rankings. Each competition means a lot for adding points to your standings. One night last September, our family was loading up the truck to go to Lake Powell the next morning. The phone rang, and it was the United States Fencing Association. There was a world cup in Mexico City, and they asked Grace to go, but we had to leave the next morning! We through all the food in freezers, and ran to Mexico last minute, getting there 10 pm the night before competing started. Grace did very well taking 18th overall in her first world cup! Grace has qualified to go to the Junior Olympics several times, and the last time she was accompanied by her younger brother Max, who also competed. She has increased her ranking as a referee and a fencer consistently, earning “top 8″ finishes at national competitions. She is graduating a year early from high school, having just turned 17. After considering several offers, Grace accepted a scholarship from Ohio State to fence for them in NCAA competition. She will continue to compete on the national and international competitions while attending college.” Rich continues, “My impression of Grace as a dad is amazing tenacity. She is one of the toughest kids I have ever seen, and when she puts her mind to something, it will get done, like it or not! She has fought against the odds for the last 3 years and taken every trial head-on. She has not only achieved many of the goals that she has set for herself, but maintained a high GPA, and has been a good example for those around her. She continues to play the Violin and Piano, and somehow finds time to serve others, a talent she has had since a young child.”

Additional Resources

NCAA Fencing Page Valkyrie Fencing (website) Valkyrie Fencing (Facebook) Grace Seal’s Facebook page