ALUMNI SCHOLARSHIP

from de Sales Sheet Magazine Fall 2022

ALUMNI LEGACIES

BELLE BURNS (2022)

The MOUNT DE SALES ALUMNI SCHOLARSHIP is presented annually to a deserving senior who has shown commitment to scholastic achievement, school involvement, and community outreach.

Belle Burns says that when she came to Mount de Sales in middle school she was "aimlessly drifting" and lacked motivation and ambition. She became inspired by the "immense devotion" to academic achievement that she recognized in her fellow Cavaliers, and she made a personal commitment to work up to her potential. Her AP Spanish teacher Stephen Beaty watched Burns grow from a reticent freshman into a confident young lady. "Belle has accomplished great things as a student, and I know she will continue to do so much in her promising future," said Beaty.

As a former Cavalier ambassador, Burns helped prospective families experience the same welcoming environment that she benefited from as a new student. She also helped to tell the MDS story by writing blog and social media posts and discovered a passion for the written word. Burns is a freshman at Mercer University majoring in communication science. She plans to become a speech and language pathologist working in a hospital or outpatient setting. Burns found a passion for linguistics as she studied Spanish at MDS, and she will continue studying Spanish at Mercer as well as American Sign Language.

"I will never forget the lessons I learned while I was in middle school and how they taught me to persevere and persist in the midst of struggle," noted Burns. "I not only look forward to becoming a tour guide at Mercer, but discovering the new opportunities that await me and meeting new people."

Mount de Sales Academy 851 Orange Street Macon, Georgia 31201

NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID MACON GA PERMIT NO. 326