Grace Johnson is a student at the Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover Scottsdale Christian Academy.

From queen of the court to homecoming queen, senior volleyball captain Reece Gibson does it all.

The 18-year-old senior is exactly what teachers, coaches and staff look for in a student at Scottsdale Christian Academy. Gibson is everywhere on campus, from the volleyball court to leading her grade as senior class president.

“Reece is awesome. She has been a part of our varsity team for all four years and won a state championship early when she was a sophomore,” athletic director Eric Dall said. “And then she has grown into a team leader on this team full of some really talented girls that all look up to her.

"She is doing a great job of embracing this new role and being a leader that everyone looks up to both on the team and on campus.”

Volleyball head coach Julie Dickerson describes Gibson as “the soul of our team.”

“You often come across really great athletes, which she is, but the thing that sticks out to us as coaches and to her teammates is just what a great person she is,” Dickerson said. “She is a mentor to the younger girls and encourages them.”

After high school, Gibson hopes to go to college out of state and pursue a major in sports psychology because of her combined passion for mental health and sports. With this decision, Gibson’s impressive volleyball career will come to an end as she shifts her focus on academics.

“I have known for a while that I want to study something in the mental health area, but I just recently found out that this could be an option and so I have done a lot of research about it,” Gibson said. “And it sounds like something really interesting to me that I want to pursue.”

The senior middle hitter wraps her playing career ranked No. 18 in the state in kills with 357 and leads the 3A-North Central division in hitting. 

When Gibson was younger, volleyball was not the obvious path in her mind.

“I played all kinds of sports growing up, but I got into middle school and I was the tallest girl in middle school,” Gibson said. “So my parents kind of just threw me on the volleyball court because they knew I’d be good at it. And then after that season, I had amazing coaches that helped grow that love for volleyball.”

For four years, Gibson has been a crucial part of the varsity squad. Her favorite memory is -- of course -- winning the state championship in her sophomore year.

“I had never played so well a game and my team had never played so well, and I had never felt so much energy from the crowd,” Gibson recalls.

Her coach remembers that match as being the moment it all clicked for Gibson to start being a leader for her team.

“Just the way that we prepared that team and they came in and executed our game plan and Reece was just a huge in those games, as she is in so many games,” Dickerson said.

“But to see her as a sophomore playing with some really phenomenal seniors that year made me feel like she became the leader for the next two years. And then these last two years, she has just kind of taken that on herself and really loved this team.”

Gibson is a key component of Scottsdale Christian’s successful girl's volleyball program and continues to prove it on the court every match. And since that sophomore run to win it all, she has been a leader.

“She walks the walk, but she also talks the talk and she does it all. She is just really easy to follow, which is exactly what we want our leader to be,” Dickerson said. “We put a ton of weight on her and she carries it with grace and grit.”

Though Gibson is praised for being able to do it all on and off the court and for the testament of her character, balancing life can be a challenge. It's nothing Gibson can’t handle.

“I just try to tell myself to find the positive in everything in life,” Gibson said. “I am a pretty positive person but when I am down about something I am very hard on myself. Anytime I am in those ruts I just tell myself to find the little positive things and it slowly builds me out of it and makes me stronger.”

That positivity pays off in the end because, from her peers’s perspective, she represents the best of what Scottsdale Christian Academy strives to promote.

“We are proud of all of our students here, but we are really really proud of Reece she represents our school and her community and our volleyball team really well and her peers recognized that and voted her homecoming queen for that reason. But I am really proud of Reece and all she has accomplished,” Dall said.

As Gibson signs off as the queen of the court, she leaves one piece of advice for her teammates:

“Cherish every moment because it comes way faster than you can ever realize. And even the times you don’t want to be there just realize how blessed you are to be here. Not everybody has this opportunity. So just cherish everything you can.”