She Shines Bright Like A Diamond

Just getting through high school and graduating is an accomplishment in itself. Some students stress over their studies to do their best for college and they know where they want to go and what they want to be when they grow up. These students need to be celebrated. We want to focus on one of the many outstanding students who recently graduated and is getting ready for college.

Madison Burnette, a Mount Juliet High School graduate, managed to excel in high school, take college courses and participate in extracurricular activities outside of school. She feels that it is really important to be well-rounded for her college career. In the Fall, she will be attending Carson Newman University in Jefferson City.

Burnette was so determined to get the scholarships she wanted, that she took the ACT five times until she got a score she was satisfied with. She also maintained a 4.3 grade point average throughout high school and earned honors and distinctions in choir and Vocal Ensemble. Plus, she got the scholarships she was striving for.

“I have the Presidential Scholarship at Carson-Newman. I was awarded that due to my ACT scores and grade point average. I was also awarded a scholarship for “religious studies’ called McCray Ministry Scholarship and a non-music major scholarship. That one allows me to sing in the choir, although I’m not majoring in music. I also have one called the Faith and Justice Scholarship. I also received the Tennessee Promise and Hope Scholarships,” says Burnette.

Her major is Religion with an emphasis on Spirituality and the Arts. She stated this major combines two of her favorite things; religion and music. She loves singing and so she wanted to go into music and also into ministry. Burnette has always been into the arts and loves acting.

“I was cast as ‘Annie’ in the musical at Capitol Theatre in Lebanon. It was my dream role. Every actress has a dream role and I was afraid I was getting too old for it. But I got to play Annie during my Junior year,” added Burnette.
Burnette has loved singing all of her life. The first time that she ever went onstage and did a solo was at Charlie Daniels Park for a Relay For Life event. She sang the LeAnn Rimes version of ‘You Light Up My Life.’ She gets to hon those vocals a lot now, as a part of both the Youth Praise Team and the Adult Praise Team at First Baptist Church in Mt. Juliet.

It helps to have a strong foundation and Burnette appreciates hers. “My family is awesome. They support everything that I do. I was taught that you could maintain good grades and still do things that you like. They stress how important it is to balance hard work and having fun. I wouldn’t be as hard-working as I am if my family had not instilled that in me when I was young.”

As with every accomplishment, there were obstacles to get past. She stresses the importance of breaking things down so that you don’t overwhelm yourself. “I was trying to do so many things, like choir, theater and church, plus still get homework done, study and maintain good grades. That was difficult. You want to hang out with your friends but you know you have things that you need to do. I think having dual enrollment classes with Vol State helped me. It helped me learn how to stay on top of things, but,” she added. “I had to deal with a little bit of anxiety throughout high school. I used ‘to do’ lists all of the time. The longer the list got, the more stressed out I got. After I discovered how much it was affecting me, my family and my grades; I knew I had to find a way to manage it. That was mainly during my Sophomore and Junior years. I learned some techniques about how to look at one thing at a time instead of just looking at the big picture. It has helped me a lot with preparing for college. You have to decide what is the number one priority and take one thing at a time.”

Every student has a favorite teacher or staff member at their high school. Burnette credits her guidance counselor and the choir director at Mt. Juliet High School for helping her succeed. “Ms. Elliott, my choir director, is amazing. She is always there with a smile, even on a rough day. She smiles and compliments you. She teaches you such amazing things about music and life. I feel very prepared, not just for college, but for life because of all of the things she has taught me, not just about music, but how to be a successful person.”

One of the many things that she loves about Ms. Elliott is that she has what they call ‘circle time.’ Burnette explains, “It’s a time for students to share what they are feeling or if someone needs prayers or help with something at school. We can study with them or just hang out. Ms. Elliott is so intentional and genuine with her students. I look up to her a lot. She is like a school mom.”

The Guidance Counselor, Ms. Walker, is another person who made a huge impact on Burnette. “It’s like we’ve been best friends since freshman year. She knew who I was and has been calling me by name since I came. That’s important to me. Even though the high school is so big, she still knows all of her students by name. She was great at helping me with my class schedules. Our guidance office is great with helping you apply for scholarships from individual foundations. I also got to work with her in that office. I think that it’s important that you have that person at school you can just talk to and know you’re not going to be looked down upon and that the person actually cares. She is a good friend and also helped my Mom a lot by answering all of the emails about all the paperwork to do for senior year.”

Now that Burnette is out of high school, she would like to encourage incoming Seniors to make the most of their senior year. She says ‘Don’t Let Up!’ It can be easy to zone out and feel like you can cut class, especially if you have already been accepted into college. Senior year may be the last year you get to see some of those classmates. Friends will go off to different colleges and start their careers all over the world.

She stated, “I really valued the time I got to spend with friends during my Senior year. I’ve known some of them since elementary school and some since junior high. That may have been the last time that we were in the same room for some of us. Make the memories. Go to class and maintain those relationships. Don’t Let Up!”

During her senior year, Burnette had an assignment for one of the college courses she was taking. She had to choose a topic for the entire year, do research, write papers and give a speech on the topic. She chose adoption because there were a few couples at church who had been going through the process. After learning more about the process, she has become passionate about it. She would love to become involved with an organization that focuses on helping people be more aware of the process and help families who are going through it, with counseling and helping with funds.

“I chose the subject because I thought the information would be of value, just hearing about the kids, whether they are overseas or in the U.S., the thought that they may feel worthless when they’re worth more than rubies, as the Bible says. It hurts my heart to think that some kids don’t think they’re worth anything, that they are not important. I just want people to feel loved. That’s one of my favorite things to do, to make people feel loved. I’d say that’s probably why I’m so drawn to it,” says Burnette.

Looking at the bigger picture, after college, she wants to write her own Bible stories and write a book for a company like Lifeway Christian Publishing, as well as start a family.
When choosing a quote to describe herself, it is only fitting that Burnette chose a Bible verse.

Proverbs 16:3 “It is ‘Commit to the Lord whatever you do and he will establish your plans for the future.’ I think that describes me because that’s what I’ve been doing since the beginning of high school. That’s why I decided to work hard and do my best with everything, so that I can one day fulfill the plan God has for me. I want to glorify Him in everything that I do. That’s why I chose my major for college, as well. So I think that really describes how I live my life and everything I’m doing going forward.”