On April 13, 2023, Grace Van Well was inducted as an honorary club member.  Grace is the precious daughter of Past-President Pete Van Well; she was honored on April 7 at the Washington State Senate with Senate Resolution 8625where athletes, coaches, and volunteers of the 2022 national summer games were recognized in the Senate Chamber for their courage and achievements. 
 
 
She and her family, and coach Stephanie toured the Senate with Senator Brad Hawkins.
Because of our love for Grace, her family, and her amazing achievements, the club is inducting her as an Honorary Member of Wenatchee Rotary.
 
Grace Van Well was diagnosed with Autism Disorder at age 3. She attended school in Wenatchee and started participating in Special Olympics at age 11 in Speed Skating. That was quickly followed by swimming, figure skating, bowling, basketball, soccer and most recently, track. She began competitively swimming in middle school for the Pioneer Bears (where she also participated in Drill Team) and Velocity Swimming private swim club. As a freshman at Wenatchee High School, she was the only adaptive swimmer participating on a high school swim team (in the entire State). Her coach James Elwyn convinced other coaches in the sport to recruit other adaptive athletes and by the time she competed at State her Senior Year there were several heats of adaptive swimming with all the lanes filled with swimmers from all over Washington. In 2019, she won a Gold Medal at the State Special Olympics in the 50 Freestyle which enabled her to be considered for the US Games. She was selected for Team Washington for the 2022 Games held in Orlando, FL, where she won a Gold Medal in her division for the 50 Butterfly and a Bronze Medal for the 50 Freestyle. She recently was honored to light the torch at the 2023 Washington State Special Olympics Winter Games at the Town Toyota Center and lead the Athlete’s Oath. She loves to attend Rotary, but would rather sit next to cousin Britt or Rosario than her father.