Why I Love Grace – Lindsey (Shepherd) Duke

“I believe the teachers and staff at Grace were excellent at challenging us as students to think critically about both school work and life. I was easily able to transition to college due to the workload and content studied while I was at Grace. The teachers invested in us both as students and personally, and they also held us accountable for school work and our character. Grace offered unique courses to us, such as Bible and rhetoric, that helped prepare us for academia and life.

I still talk to others about Mrs. Allen. History was not my favorite course before her classes, and I truly believe I would have done poorly in those courses if not for her passion for storytelling. She made it exciting and helped lead us to connect learning about History and world events to our current everyday life. I also got to enjoy her mentorship in the Newspaper as well. She helped enrich our reading and studies by bringing history to life on incredibly impactful trips to places like Washington DC and Vicksburg.

I am a PA (Physician Associate), and I work with the anesthesia team at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. Both my mother and my pediatrician growing up greatly influenced my passion for the medical field and pediatrics specifically. I knew from a young age I wanted to be a healthcare provider and I wanted to work with children. I thought the only way to do that was to go to medical school and become a pediatrician. When I was in middle and high school, my mom introduced me to several PAs and Physicians in the community there in Tyler. I spent time shadowing them, learning the differences, and also getting to know the challenges and rewards of being a healthcare provider. I knew I wanted to have a family of my own someday, and the flexibility of the PA career would truly allow that. I graduated from Grace in 2002, graduated from Baylor University in 2006, and I went on to graduate with my masters in PA studies in 2010. My husband and I married in 2007, and we’ve had 4 beautiful children. I’ve worked in general pediatrics, OB/GYN, and I currently work with both our pediatric general anesthesia and cardiac anesthesia teams. The leadership opportunities offered to me during my time at Grace truly prepared me for the leadership positions I hold to this day with work and volunteer organizations. I am grateful to the sacrifices that my family made to allow me to attend Grace Community, and I’m incredibly grateful to the teachers and staff who invested their time and energy into so many students over the years! Each moment they invest can truly change the life of another.

Grace is an amazing place to have teachers invest in your children and family not only academically, but, more importantly, spiritually. Grace offers a unique opportunity to have teachers and staff invest in the spiritual lives of your students. Teachers don’t just expect students to adopt the faith of their parents, but they truly teach you to critically examine your faith and why we believe what we believe. They encourage this with the curriculum and the time they spend with students inside and outside of the classroom. I really believe that critical examination of our faith is so important before leaving home to go to college or to work in the “real world”. I’m so grateful I was given that opportunity!”

~ Lindsey (Shepherd) Duke
GCS Alumni Class of 2002, 6-12th