Senior Gabrielle Culberson was recently nominated and awarded the A.C.E award, showing her courage and academic excellence while going through personal challenges in her life. Earlier in her life, Culberson was diagnosed with a kidney disease which eventually led to a kidney transplant. Throughout all of this, she was keeping up with her studies and continued to battle the challenges that came with the many surgeries and recoveries.

“I was nominated for the A.C.E. award for excellence within our community, even though I faced challenges in my life. I feel very honored to win this award. There were a lot of people there who were already going through so much, so to be chosen out of that group really meant a lot,” said Culberson.

Culberson’s achievement is connected to the challenges she faced throughout her life. Despite serious health challenges at a young age, she stayed focused on her schoolwork and gave back to the community.

“When I was younger, I was diagnosed with kidney disease. After that, I got a kidney transplant. It was a very tough time in my life, and I was a sophomore in high school,” said Culberson. “While that was going on, I was able to get good grades still, have high honors and after I finally got my transplant, I was able to start a foundation that helped other people find their kidney transplants. It made me think a lot deeper about things and be really happy for what I have.”

Culberson’s journey was not easy, and it not only affected her health and academics but also changed her everyday life. She had to adjust to new limitations that impacted her social life and the sports she loved.

“I had a lot of restrictions. I had to go home immediately, and I played for the soccer academy up until that, and then after that, I couldn’t play goalie anymore because it would damage my kidneys,” said Culberson.

Despite these challenging limitations that she faced, Culberson was not alone during her journey. Family and friends played a major role in helping her with both the physical and emotional challenges she experienced.

“Someone who helped me along the way was my mom. She was just always there for everything and would bring my medicine to school sometimes when I forgot,” said Culberson. “Also, my friends, because even though I was stressed, they would always just try to get me involved and keep talking to me no matter what.”

Along with her family and friends, Darlington also stood with Culberson and helped her along her journey. Being a high school student can be overwhelming. There is a lot of work and being out for long periods of time, like Culberson was, leads to even more stress. However, the faculty helped her keep up with her studies even when she would miss weeks of school.

“Darlington has helped me so much by giving me breaks as far as schoolwork goes. So when I would be out for months at a time, I would come back, and I would be able to catch up, but I wouldn’t be punished for being out,” said Culberson.

The support that Culberson received pushed her to give back to others who were facing similar or difficult situations. Her journey led her to want to make a positive impact on her community, so she focused on helping children in need.

“Originally, it started as a blanket drive that I brought to the transplant kids in CHOA (Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta), and we raised enough blankets for the whole floor, so it was really good,” said Culberson. “It’s kind of evolved now to where it’s whatever we can do. So this last time, we did art supplies for homeless children, and we just brought a bunch of art supplies for their summer programs.”