Distinguished Alumni Awardee David Grindrod '09 Inspires the Class of 2026

When David Grindrod '09 walked back onto the Indian Creek campus on Thursday, May 28, to address the Class of 2026 on the eve of their graduation, the moment carried three decades of history. David first arrived at the Creek in 1996 as a kindergartener in Miss Mindy's class.  He was a happy kid who loved animal crackers and the swing set. Thirty years later, he returned as the recipient of the 2026 Julius Smith III Distinguished Alumni Award: a New York City director, choreographer, and performer whose career has carried him from national tours of A Chorus Line to stages around the world. 

In the years since he graduated as part of just the second Upper School class, David has built a dynamic career in the performing arts. He began professionally as Mark in the national tour of A Chorus Line under Tony Award winner Baayork Lee, later reprising the role at New York City Center. Lee went on to name him her associate for major stagings of the show, including its China premiere and the 50th Anniversary Celebration on Broadway, and the two continue to collaborate on productions across the country. Today, David works as a director and choreographer at respected regional theaters nationwide, with performing credits that have taken him from Walt Disney World to Japan. Even with all that, the story David told the soon-to-be graduates wasn't a highlight reel, it was about grit.

He spoke candidly about being diagnosed with learning differences in first grade, when the words on the page simply refused to come together, and about the teachers like Mrs. Mary Mannix and Mrs. Jennifer Malachowski who met him where he was and never let him give up. He described arriving in New York chasing a Broadway dream, then facing more than a hundred auditions without a single yes, while walking dogs and driving for Uber to make ends meet. David described the one ordinary Tuesday audition he almost skipped because he was sure it would be another “no,” but it was the one that finally opened the door. Ten years later, he now directs and choreographs at the very theater that first said yes.

Woven through it all was a simple charge to the Class of 2026: Define success for yourself, stay tenacious, and don't be afraid to readjust the dream as you grow. He pointed to his own sisters, Blakely ’10 – a working artist, and Caroline ’13 – an ordained pastor in Dallas – as proof that the path is rarely a straight line, and that growing up often means solving our dreams rather than simply chasing them.

Finally came the words every new graduate hopes to hear: a welcome into the Indian Creek alumni community. Creekers around the country are in your corner, he told them, urging the class to cast a bold vision, do the gritty work, and call on their ICS family whenever they need a hand.