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Samantha Burns, a Deering graduate, has found time to study piano when she’s not studying and volunteering.

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SAMANTHA BURNS

SCHOOL: Deering High School, Portland

"If you do a good day's work, you have to ask yourself, 'Have you done anything good for the community?' "

Samantha Burns has so many interests, she's not sure what to do with the rest of her life.

Whatever she does, community service probably will be a big part of it.

"If you do a good day's work," she said, "you have to ask yourself, 'Have you done anything good for the community?'"

Burns is off to a great start. She graduated fifth in her class at Deering High School on June 3 and plans to attend Bowdoin College in Brunswick in the fall. She took the most demanding course load throughout high school, including seven Advanced Placement, honors or independent study courses in her senior year.

Burns completed every Spanish course offered at Deering by the second semester of her junior year, so she has continued studying on her own under teacher review. Last summer, she worked as a volunteer to provide HIV/AIDS information to Spanish-speaking youths at a regional soccer tournament.

When she had trouble learning algebra, Burns buckled down and taught herself. Now she tutors other students. When she had a study hall, she joined Future Teachers of America and started a book club for gifted third-graders at Longfellow Elementary School.

"She is a valued youth leader," said Deering Principal Ken Kunin, who noted Burns' sharp intelligence and confident, outgoing nature.

Burns started an outing club at Deering and recently led fellow students on a weekend backpacking trip on the Maine Huts & Trails system in the western mountains. She has taught science lessons at the Children's Museum of Maine, worked as a summer day-camp counselor and volunteered regularly at Maine Medical Center.

Last summer, Burns spent eight weeks working as a NASA-funded lab assistant at the University of Southern Maine, where she studied growth hormones in caterpillars and delivered a presentation to academic professionals.

The eldest of two girls, Burns credits her parents, Cynthia Loebenstein, an architect, and Thomas Burns, a GIS mapper, with encouraging her to tackle the most difficult challenges. She includes her grandparents, aunts, uncles and many teachers in the extended family that got her where she is today.

Looking ahead, Burns said she's considering a wide variety of careers that might make the most of her many interests, not the least of which is music. A gifted singer and classical pianist, she recently started composing and dabbling in jazz.

"Whatever I do," she said, "I will be helping people in some way."

Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:

kbouchard@pressherald.com