There’s a story Briann Burris’ mother likes to tell that demonstrates her daughter’s tenacity.
Mark and Deanne Burris were at Iola High, along with Briann, then a sixth-grader, for an event prior to son and brother Brigham’s graduation. On a table were medals reserved for valedictorians.
“How do you get one?” Briann asked her mother. “You have to have a 4.0 grade point average,” Deanne replied, and encouraged her: “You’re the only one who can do it.”
“And, by golly, she’s going to get one,” Deanne beamed.
MUCH HAS changed with Briann since she was a wide-eyed girl. She has shed her shyness, in some measure through working with a Kansas City modeling agency the past three years as well as participating in multiple competitions, shows and interviews with agents.
Along the way she has developed a wide and genuine smile that brightens all around her.
Briann has devoted herself to her studies, compiling the 4.0 grade point average necessary to earn one of the medals as well as earning 36 hours of college credit through dual-credit classes offered by Allen Community College. That will make her a second-semester sophomore when she enrolls at Kansas State University this fall.
Academic awards she has earned at IHS are many, and include membership in the National Honor Society the past two years.
As part of her participation in the 2007 National Youth Leadership Conference, Briann was invited to attend the inaugural of President Obama in January 2009. She was among a limited number of students from throughout the nation at the event and it gave her opportunities to make friendships that have continued, Briann said.
She heard several speakers, including Colin Powell and Desmond Tutu, South African activist who rose to worldwide fame in the 1980s for his opposition to apartheid. An outcome of attending the inauguration was chances to speak about the experience before Rotary and 4-H clubs and other local organizations, all of which honed her academic abilities.
Future Farmers of America and Student Council are activities she has embraced and served as officers, including stuco president her junior year. She also has passed along her love for learning by mentoring in district elementary schools.
Other broadening experiences have been serving as a 4-H officer, working as a counselor at Rock Springs 4-H Camp and showing champion livestock at the Allen County Fair.
And, as remarkable as it might seem, Briann also has found time to work in part-time jobs at her father’s petroleum-related businesses, as well as some babysitting.
Her experiences, in school and a number of other activities, have made her the stereotypical well-rounded student.
BRIANN hopes to find a career in event planning, although she doesn’t rule out medicine or clinical psychology.
She would like an opportunity to work within a university framework with event planning or in public relations in a hospital. To get a better grasp of what she might like to do, Briann spent part of last summer working in public relations at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
