Grant Sexton
- Santa Barbara, CA
- Bishop Garcia Diego High School
“You must do the thing you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt
After learning that a clinic in Costa Rica, which belonged to his godmother’s friend, had been trespassed and gutted of its medical equipment, Grant Sexton founded the nonprofit organization, Equipped2Heal. Instead of merely offering monetary support, Grant and two medical doctors journeyed to the Dominican Republic to provide medical supplies and health checkups. Grant remembers a mother carrying her eight-year-old daughter towards him for treatment. The girl could not speak, hear, or walk. It was not until she was seen by doctors that the mother learned her daughter has microcephaly, a rare condition that restricts the growth of the head and brain. He recalls the mother’s dedication, “I wanted to be like her in some capacity: devoted, compassionate, and resilient even if faced with impossible odds.” Grant is a member of the National Honor Society, the Santa Barbara Youth Council, and the basketball, volleyball, and cross country teams.