Lillie Sumner, 18, is the daughter of Phil and Hope Sumner of Statesboro.  She is Bulloch Academy’s 2021 valedictorian.

“I’ve been thinking about being valedictorian since I knew what the word meant,” Lillie said. 

She received the highest grade point average awards in her schools for fifth, eighth, 10th, 11th and 12th grades.  

“My parents are thrilled for me to be valedictorian, and happy for me that I achieved my goal. People assumed they pushed me, but it was me pushing myself.”

Lillie plans to attend Georgia Southern University and major in Chemistry.  After applying for the university’s 1906 scholarship, she also applied for and was accepted into its Honors College. 

“My older sister went to the University of Georgia, and I could have too, but I consciously made a decision to stay here and remain close to my grandparents, Jimmy and Theresa Sumner and Virginia Goodwin.  My grandpa is the smartest man I’ve ever met.  He was the first in his family to go to college. He was a social worker. He met Martin Luther King Jr.  I just really look up to him.”

As part of GSU’s Honors College, Lillie will join a community of scholars in the Honors dormitory. She will be able to develop intellectually and professionally by conducting undergraduate research, and the program also provides creative scholarship, experiential learning, global engagement and personalized mentorship.

This fits well with her desire to pursue a career in the sciences.  She’s considering obstetrics and gynecology, pharmacy or emergency medicine.

“I’ve kind of liked all my classes at BA, but especially Chemistry and Anatomy,” Lillie said.

She began working at McCook’s Pharmacy in Statesboro, last July.  She credits this experience with sparking her interest in science careers. 

“I didn’t even consider STEM fields until I started working at McCook’s. It’s given me hands-on application of science lessons I’ve learned in high school.  I hope to stay on there.”

Lillie is the recipient of this year’s Bulloch Academy Trustees Award, which is given each year to an elementary, middle and high school student, who each have the highest grade point average for the school year. She was also a Governor’s Honors Program state finalist in 2019, for the field of Communicative Arts, and she is her school’s 2021 STAR student. 

Lillie represented Bulloch Academy in the Bulloch County STAR competition where a local winner is selected from amongst the county’s five participating public and private high schools.

STAR is a Professional Association of Georgia Educators Foundation program.  It recognizes students at the school, county, region and state levels who score the highest score on any single administration of the SAT.  STARS must also attain a score that is equal to or higher than the SAT’s national average of scores for both its math and reading/writing sections, and at the end of the junior year of high school, STARs must be in either the top 10 percent or be among the top 10 students in their graduating class whichever category provides the largest number of eligible students.

Each STAR student also selects a STAR teacher who has impacted their life. Lillie selected Courtney Burnette, her English teacher and cheerleading coach. In a statement that Lillie prepared for the local STAR competition she shared how Burnette had impacted her life.

“She is the reason that I love to come to school. She's been a recommender of books and a suggester of songs since I was a sophomore. She has never stopped encouraging and believing in me and has always pushed me to be the very best I could be, in and out of the classroom,” she said.

     Burnette was honored to be selected as Lillie’s STAR teacher.  She first came to know Lillie as her middle school cheerleading coach, and then she was her English teacher for three years beginning in 10th grade. 

“I can genuinely say that every minute has been a joy,” Burnette said. “Lillie is the rare student that just blows you away every day with her insight, her eloquent writing, and her maturity. It means so much to me that she valued her time in my class as much as I loved having her there,” she said.

Lillie has enjoyed her years at Bulloch Academy. She feels like it’s a close knit family.

“None of us go through things alone,” she said.  “We have shared experiences. I will miss my friends as we each go our separate ways.”