Sunny Burrows and and Peachtree Scholar Grace Brown. (Photo by Jeyhoun Allebaugh/UNC-Chapel Hill)
For senior Grace Brown, the Peachtree Scholarship opened a community of mentors who were eager to help her reach her goals at UNC and beyond.
Grace Brown ’26 was on a 15-minute break while working a double shift at Chick-Fil-A when she learned that she’d been awarded the Peachtree Scholarship. Brown’s only expectation was that the scholarship would cover her tuition, room and board at Carolina, and that felt like more than enough. What she didn’t realize was that she would ultimately form meaningful and lasting relationships with supporters of her scholarship that would propel her to success through her time at Carolina.
The Peachtree Scholars Fund was established by a group of Atlanta-based Carolina alumni, including Lee ’82 and Sunny ’84 Burrows, who wanted to make Carolina more accessible for high schoolers just like Brown — an outstanding student who had competitive scholarship offers from other top universities.
“It was the Peachtree Scholarship that put Carolina over the top,” Brown said. “My goal was to get a full ride, and UNC ended up being the place. It was the perfect choice for me.”
In January of her first year at Carolina, Brown attended a Peachtree Scholars event at the Burrows’ Atlanta home. Going into the event, she had no idea that she was about to gain mentors who would support her through every twist and turn of her college experience. Over the course of the evening, Brown exchanged contact information with several donors in attendance. Motivated by what she’d just heard about the donors’ work experiences, Brown also realized that night that she wanted to switch from psychology to a business major. She shared this with Sunny Burrows, who sprang into action and immediately activated her network.
The Burrows introduced Brown to Bill Moore ’67 (MBA), Lee’s former boss and mentor who was also a long-time student mentor and former professor at the Kenan-Flagler Business School. Moore helped Brown navigate the process of applying to the undergraduate business program and became another trusted mentor to Brown.
“The Burrows and Bill Moore were pivotal and influential in my whole college experience, helping me get prepared to get into the business school and connecting me to people and opportunities,” Brown said. “They helped me by opening their network, and all I had to do was bring my will power and determination and grit.”
Mentorship helped point Brown in the right direction, but the Burrows are quick to give Brown credit for everything she’s accomplished.
“Grace has incredible stamina,” Sunny Burrows said. “She wound up, per Bill Moore’s advice, taking two statistics classes and an economics class in the same semester to catch up for the business school application.”
Support along the way
Business has been a great fit for Brown, and she jumped into everything the undergraduate business program had to offer. The summer before her junior year, Brown received a full scholarship from Kenan-Flagler to cover the cost of travel and expenses in London as she worked an internship at AME Trade, an international company that facilitates connections and investment in the energy and mining sectors.
The following summer, Brown wanted to continue working in the energy space, so Moore again helped her navigate next steps by introducing her to a connection who helped her find an internship with Shell. Brown spent the summer before her senior year as a marketing intern, tasked with mocking up in-store branding and signage upgrades for Shell’s Jiffy Lube locations. Brown took that assignment and ran with it, creating a step-by-step playbook to guide store branding across the franchise. She received a full-time job offer from Shell following her internship, and will be moving to Houston to work as a sales analyst on the company’s Pennzoil brand after graduation.
Mentorship that lasts
“Coming in I thought, ‘Okay, they give you money, you go to college, that’s it,’ but I received so much more value from the Peachtree Scholarship,” said Brown. “The Peachtree Scholars program gave me a strong network that helped me feel at ease and like I didn’t have to worry, because the community around me had my back. The relationships were the most valuable thing that came from my scholarship and I really believe that my relationship with the Burrows will be lifelong.”
Even as she prepares to leave Carolina, the Burrows remain invested in helping Brown navigate her cross-country move and the transition to her full-time career. Sunny Burrows introduced Brown to her college roommate, Boo Kennedy ’84, who lives in Houston and is helping Brown check out apartments in the area, visiting the complexes that Brown is interested in and sending her photos and videos of each. Sunny also put Brown in touch with another Carolina friend, Elijah White ’84, who lives in Houston and will help make the new city feel like home.
“The whole experience has shown me that UNC has a network that really wants to see fellow Tar Heels succeed,” Brown said. “There are so many opportunities where people want to see you succeed and I’m very grateful for that.”
The Burrows recently came to town and met with Brown at the Starbucks on Franklin Street. She brought her new employee paperwork from Shell, which she’d covered in colorful tabs, flagging questions about what benefits she should choose.
“It was very rewarding and actually fun to go through that document with her, and to sit there remembering what it was like to be 22 and about to start my first job,” said Lee Burrows. “Being a mentor and having this relationship with Grace is just a joy. It has only ever been a joy.”
Story by Audrey Smith ’10
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