Three-sport athlete and top-tier student Mary Claire Besh is the winner of the Athena League’s Lynn Gilbert Trent-Beverly Berry Crutcher Scholarship for her community service and involvement within Athens High School and the City of Athens.

She is a 2022 graduate of Athens High School and was a participant in Cheerleading, Soccer and Golf.

Outside the realm of sports, the resume grows.

She was a member of the Athens Mayor’s Youth Commission, in the Pi Beta Sigma Sorority, in Limestone LEAD, in the Rho Kappa Historic Honor Society, in the National Honor’s Society and an Alabama Governor’s School recipient, among other achievements.

She is bound for Auburn in the fall where she will study aerospace engineering and plans to continue her community work on The Plains

As for the Athena League’s award, Besh is happy to be recognized for her work by a prestigious group.

“So that scholarship, it was really just an honor because it was honoring two of their former members who have passed and were real dedicated to their community, giving back in volunteering,” she said. “To be compared to those women was just a huge honor. The Athena League does a lot for the community, so for them to recognize what I do was just really great.”

Playing three different sports during her time at Athens, Besh was very involved on the soccer field, on the golf course and with the cheer squad as well.

While she cheered the longest, she said “I enjoyed all three.”

However, her time at Athens is defined by much more than what she did in her respective trio of sports.

What she did for the community, her fellow students and others also speaks to who she is and where she is going.

“I was lucky enough to hold a leadership position for the Class of 2022 as the vice president, so it was awesome to get to speak for them to administration and hear their ideas, get to speak to them at graduation and award ceremonies,” she said. “But, I was also a leader in our Interact Club – that’s our Youth Rotary. That was great because I got the opportunity to go to speak to the Athens Rotary Club and got to experience that support for our school firsthand.”

She comes from a line of community servants, with two parents – Genny and Mike Besh – who have instilled in their daughter the importance of giving back to your own community.

“My parents are just really involved in our community. My mom has held a position in the Athens Booster Club, which supports all of the athletics at Athens High,” she said. “Then, my dad, he is a former president of the Athens Lions Club. So, I always grew up around their support for our community and volunteering for projects.”

When asked about which projects she is very passionate about, one example was “as President of the Interact Club, I got very involved in our Color Run for Clean Water. Through that run – the past two years I was in that office – we were able to raise $6,500, which all goes to Uganda to build clean water wells. I also have a sister who lives in Uganda as a teacher. So it was awesome to be able to support communities close to her.”

She will be in the Honors College at Auburn. With the focus in aerospace engineering, she said that the Tennessee Valley would interest her after college, but she “doesn’t have any plans right now.”

Lastly, she thanked her parents, grandparents and Athens High members for their help.