#burrillville

Thursday, June 22, 2023

 BY CAROLYN THORNTON

Rhode Island Interscholastic League

    To add to the celebration of her recent graduation from Burrillville High School, Julianna Colbert received the news Thursday afternoon that she has been selected as the 2023 recipient of the Alice Sullivan Memorial Scholarship.

     The scholarship is awarded in memory of Alice Sullivan. A teacher and administrator at East Providence High School for four decades, Sullivan also served as the Assistant Executive Director of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League and was the moving force in the early 1970s for the development of girls athletics in our state. 

Colbert will be attending Southern New Hampshire University in the fall, where she plans to study Secondary Education with a focus on history and also play for the Penmen softball team.       

     Becoming a teacher has been a lifelong dream, Colbert wrote in her scholarship essay. She says history has always fascinated her and that she began leaning toward teaching at the high school level “because it would allow me to grow deeper connections with my students and be a positive role model throughout a difficult time in their lives.”

      A member of the National Honor Society, Colbert graduated earlier this month from Burrillville High School, completing the Education Pathway that included a teaching internship with an eighth-grade classroom this year at Burrillville Middle School.

     An EEP History class that she took in her junior year provided further confirmation this is the career path Colbert would like to pursue.

    “Having a teacher who loves her job and has a passion for what she is teaching makes a huge impact on you as a student, and I hope to be like her when I become a teacher,” Colbert said of Burrillville High School’s Social Studies Department Chair Stacy Lamontagne, who also taught an AP European History Class Colbert took this year. 

      Colbert could also see a softball coaching career possibly being in her future. When she is not playing herself, she works as a pitching instructor and also gives back to the Burrillville Girls Softball League umpiring in the summer when they are shorthanded, helping to maintain the fields and instructing the younger girls with the basics. 

RIIL/CAROLYN THORNTON

Colbert earned All-Division and All-State honors after helping the Burrillville/North Smithfield Co-op team to the 2021 Division III Softball Championship. 

      In the ideal scenario, after graduating from college Colbert envisions finding a local high school in need of both a history teacher and a coach.

       “Throughout my life, sports have been a huge part of who I am, especially softball,” said Colbert, who also captained Burrillville’s basketball team each of the last two seasons. “They have led me to meet some of my best friends and coaches who have influenced me to be a better version of myself . . . I grew up playing softball and falling in love with the game so being able to help grow that love for the game in the younger girls is so rewarding.”

RIIL/CAROLYN THORNTON

Colbert smacks a two-run homer against Johnston in a Division II matchup this spring.

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