Alumni Feature: Claudia Gruett '17

Racing Around the World and into Hearts

If you spend fifteen minutes with Claudia Gruett ‘17, you will likely learn that she is full of enthusiasm and truly loves her faith. Even more, her smile will radiate when asked about “The World Race.” I had the fortune of meeting up with Claudia shortly before her adventures began and continue to follow her journey through her blog updates.

This past August, Gruett began a year of service with The World Race, an interdenominational faithbased program. The program invites twenty some things to come together to serve communities in need. Over a span of eleven months, her group will be traveling to eleven different countries to serve various communities. The organization partners with different established groups around the world to provide short-term assistance in reaching their objectives.

Racers help in many ways - they may be physically building a worship space, ministering to children in an orphanage, or everything in between. They live out of their backpacks and in communities to immerse themselves and have the opportunity to really understand the plight of those they are there to help.

Before leaving, Gruett discussed her journey leading up to her call to race, sharing that it was a funny story. Her story first began during high school, where she had a life-changing experience during the March for Life. Claudia’s friend, Abby Tschimperle ‘17, invited her on the trip, where Gruett recalls being stuck on the turnpike for hours during “snowmageddon.” While the trip was anything but ordinary, Gruett returned back to Washington, D.C. her senior year for the March, hoping for a smoother experience. In turn, the journey deepened her faith and offered her a more profound way of thinking.

Following her senior year, Gruett felt inspired to get more involved with her faith before heading off to college. As she prayed about it in the chapel, Ms. Kelly Wilda ‘00 (now Mrs. Waters) happened to email a small group of individuals about a new, faith-based opportunity called the San Damiano Encounter. Though she was included in the mass email by chance, Gruett was grateful and it became another incredible experience for her and helped enrich her faith even more. Her faith remained an integral part of her life while studying music education at Butler University in Indiana.

By the time she was finishing college, Gruett was in search of even more opportunity and adventure. After much discernment, she applied and was accepted into The World Race. Gruett details her journey on her blog, which readers can follow by visiting www.claudiagruett. theworldrace.org. There, supporters can virtually and spiritually join her journey, be treated to inspiring reflections, fun videos and amazing pictures documenting her experiences.

Xavier wishes her the best and cannot wait to see where life takes her on “the World Race” and beyond!