Grace Landolt

Grace Landolt, age 7, went on vacation with her mom and dad to New York City during Black Friday to do some shopping. She had been feeling sick before she had even stepped on the plane, but her parents wanted to continue on with the trip. After a rough flight there, she left the airport feeling worse than before. “It was really busy and cold, and gross in New York city, because everyone was down there, and we were walking down the side of the street and I just threw up everywhere.”

Lucky for Grace, someone came to help. ”This lady was walking by, and she handed my dad a tissue.” The closest store to where she threw up was Macy’s. Unfortunately, it was Black Friday. So, Grace’s mother had to shove through a crowd of angry people to get to the bathroom. After cleaning up, Landolt decided she wanted to see “Santa.” On the way up the escalators, the hem of her jeans got caught in the track, and it began to pull her down. The staff had to shut down the escalator and pull her jeans out. Then, Landolt coated in grease, and stinking of vomit, hopped on Santa’s lap, and got everything she wished for.

“I went this summer to try and redeem my New York experience,” She says. Grace, age 15, lives at home with her Step dad and Mother. She has two step  sisters, Megan  and Molly. She’s lived in Roanoke her entire life. She works as a lifeguard in her free time over the summer, and swims on the high school swim team. Her main focus in life is swimming, and while she doesn’t know which college she wants to go to, she says that it must have a swim team.