View Comments
Grace VanBoven will graduate from South Lyon High School June 12, having learned some extraordinarily hard lessons already in her young life.
Missing from the crowd will be her mother, Michelle VanBoven, who died when Grace was just 9 years old and in fourth grade.
Grace’s mother lost her battle with cancer, a fight that had begun when her daughter was just 7. Despite the tragedy, her child showed a determination to succeed and is the winner of the 2021 Perseverance Award for a South Lyon High School graduating senior.
“I think my mom would be really proud of me,” VanBoven said. I will graduate in the top 10 of my class and I’m going to U of M, and it is all I have wanted since I was 7. I think she would be really proud of everything I have done so far.”