Sarah Kathleen Adams, UNC Chapel Hill class of 2017, is from Greenville, SC, with dual majors in Music and Communication Studies. She discovered a passion for singing as a child and began her classical vocal training while attending Greenville’s Fine Arts Center in August of 2011. Her desire to develop her talent and pursue a career in music quickly grew. Ms. Adams has been honored to perform in some of the finest concert venues including Steinway Hall and Opera America in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 2012, she was selected as one of the top ten classical singers in the nation to perform in Miami Beach, Florida, for a week as a part of the National YoungArts competition. After YoungArts, she was selected as the top high school soprano in the United States and was honored with a gold Presidential medal and performed at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. This past year, Ms. Adams was awarded as one of four students from UNC to receive a fellowship where she was enabled to create her own curriculum of study during the summer. As a part of her studies, she has elected to study vocal performance and participate in Stagebound for a fifth, consecutive year. With the generous support of the Burch Fellowship, Ms. Adams intends to study in New York City for four and half weeks to study the most difficult roles in all of soprano repertoire alongside her mentor and well-renowned opera singer and teacher, Karen Parks. As New York City is one of the biggest performance hubs in the United States, Ms. Adams will use this opportunity to make connections between rehearsals and performances. During this fellowship, she will also study the therapeutic benefits of music while singing at hospitals and nursing homes in and around the city. With the help of the Burch Fellowship, she will be able to study intensively in her craft before launching her professional career as a vocalist and also share her gift with people in need and experience the healing powers of music. Ms. Adams would like to thank Mr. Burch for the opportunity to follow her dreams and make this possible.