Mount St. Mary Academy was well represented at the sixth annual Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony held Wednesday, April 20, at the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock. Millie Allgood ’22 was recognized as one of five Girls of Distinction during the event. Additionally, Amy Rossi ’71 was among the eight women and two organizations comprising the latest class of Hall of Fame inductees.
As one of this year’s Girls of Distinction, Millie was provided the unique opportunity to meet the 2022 inductees and help escort them to the stage during the ceremony. According to the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame, the five high school students chosen for this honor each year serve in leadership positions, maintain high academic standards and strive to make their communities a better place.
“Being a Girl of Distinction was such an inspiring yet humbling experience,” Millie said of her recent honor. “I was so grateful to meet and hear the stories of women who persevered through challenges and barriers to achieve their dreams. Their advice and insight was truly life changing. I was deeply humbled to be nominated among a group of such unique and successful young women. I am so blessed to have found both friendship and inspiration from my fellow honorees, and I hope in the future we may all follow in the footsteps of the inductees.”
Millie is very involved at Mount St. Mary. She is a member of Beta Club, Mu Alpha Theta, National Honor Society, Campus Ministry, and the Mountie Messengers student ambassador program. She also serves as a student athletic trainer and was captain of the Belles varsity volleyball and basketball teams this year. Millie, who currently ranks first in her class, will join the Honors College at Texas A&M University-Commerce this fall where she is committed to playing volleyball for the NCAA Division I Lions.
The Girls of Distinction program was implemented in 2017, and since then Mount St. Mary has had at least one student chosen each year young women have been selected. Stephanie Verdaris ’18 was honored in the inaugural class in 2017, America Alejandri ’20 and Annie Quo ’19 received the recognition in 2018, and Brynne Johnson ’21 was named a Girl of Distinction in 2019. The program took a two-year hiatus while the induction ceremony was postponed in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID.
Mount St. Mary Academy was also proud to have an alumna and former student body president, Amy Rossi, inducted into the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame during this year’s ceremony. Amy was recognized in the latest class of honorees for her impactful advocacy work on behalf of Arkansas’ children and families. She worked at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families for 23 years, 15 of them as executive director, before continuing to impact the state’s healthcare landscape at the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement and then at AFMC, from which she retired in 2015. Amy’s hard work and dedication led to the development of ARKids First, a health insurance program that has provided coverage for thousands of children across the state since its inception in 1997. Click here to read her detailed bio featured on the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame website.
The goal of the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame is to honor, in perpetuity, women whose contributions have influenced the direction of Arkansas in their community or the state. It is dedicated to preserving the history of its inductees’ accomplishments and to providing encouragement and inspiration to women across the state by sharing their powerful stories. The Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, founders of Mount St. Mary Academy, were honored as members of the second class of inductees in 2016. Former Mount St. Mary president and CEO, Karen Flake ’65, was inducted in 2018.
We congratulate Millie and Amy on this wonderful and well-deserved recognition!
Mount St. Mary Academy, sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy, develops young women with a moral and intellectual foundation rooted in Catholic tradition. Mercy-minded and college-prepared, our students meet the future with wisdom, compassion and integrity.