Grant Johnson

By: Caia Bevins

A Defiance College senior, Grant Johnson was recently crowned
the 2022 Homecoming King. When I sat down with him for an
interview, he did nothing but express his gratitude to everyone
that voted for him. Grant said he appreciated everyone
because they saw something in him that made him worthy of
their support and vote.

This meant that he had done some good during his time at Defiance College beyond his academics. When asked about Homecoming in general, he talked about, as a senior, how important Homecoming will be to him in the coming years as he leaves the college and how much he looks forward to coming back as an alumni.

When asked what his greatest achievement was, he pointed to a rather recent one, and no, it wasn’t being Homecoming King, but rather being admitted to West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. He didn’t tell me that this school is ranked as one of the best medical schools in the nation and has a nine percent acceptance rate. That means less than one in every ten people applying will get in. While he hasn’t decided to go there, he said it was likely, As far as achievements go, that one is pretty fantastic.

While talking about Defiance College, he talked about how his experiences here have exemplified some of the characteristics about himself that he most valued, like hard work and interpersonal relations. He said that while he already had those qualities, his experience at “Defiance College enhanced that because of the resources they had here and just the genuine people they have here.”

He also talked about his experience as a Defiance College Student Ambassador and how his role allowed him to work with such wonderful people in the Admissions office and throughout the college. He also talked about his involvement with McMaster’s School for Advancing Humanity. He talked about his first year as a part of the project and its goal of collecting stories from the Latino community in Defiance and creating a collection of those histories. Unfortunately, this project was over the 2019-2020 school year, and he and his fellow scholars couldn’t complete it. However, they were able to share stories about their experiences, talk about the concept of storytelling, and pick out common themes. He said, “Family was a big one, being hopeful, thinking positive thoughts, but also fear.”

Grant also talked about the Panama Initiative, where he went to Panama and educated over four hundred third through sixth graders about skin cancer and how to prevent it. Both were great experiences, he said, and he was happy he was a part of them.

In addition to his exemplary academic work, he is also a member of the Campus Activities Board, a Senior Class Representative, the Vice President of SAAC, a Service Leader, a McMasters Scholar, an RA, an orientation leader, a Student Ambassador, and a member of APO. He is also on the Defiance College Basketball team, so remember to go out and support him, and his teammates as the 2022-2023 Defiance The College Basketball team participates in the Defiance Purple and Gold Tournament against Miami Middletown and Wilmington on November 11 th and 12 th, respectively.

Fun facts about out 2022-2023 Homecoming King:
What’s your favorite food?
Mexican
What’s your favorite movie?
Rudy
What’s your favorite color?
Blue, but purple is a close second.
What three-five apps on your phone do you use the most?
Music, Google, and YouTube.
If you could be any animal, what would you be?
Lion
What is your greatest pet peeve?
When someone scrapes their fingernails on a chalk board.
What high school did you go to?
Waynesville High School