Love for numbers pushes TC Salutatorian to Franklin College to study Actuarial Science

With an athletic career ended via injury, Peyton Burris filled his time and competitive nature by joining Triton Central’s highly-successful robotics program.

In his lone year as a senior, Burris was part of Triton Central’s world championship qualifying team that competed in Dallas earlier this year. The Tigers finished 32nd in their division of 82 teams.

“It was pretty humbling just being able to see all these countries (competing),” said Burris. “I’ve never been in a place so diverse. I think there were like 40-some countries there. There were teams with translators or you had to use Google Translate to talk to them. It was fun.”

Burris played high school football for two seasons but tore the anterior cruciate ligament in one of his knees while wrestling as a sophomore which concluded his athletic career.

Meanwhile, Burris was competing with the rest of his graduating class for a top academic honor. Ranked in the top five after his freshman year, Burris rose to the No. 2 spot to earn the Salutatorian honor for the Class of 2024.

“They have you ranked starting freshman year but it doesn’t become apparent until junior and senior year when you can start taking classes that are weighted,” explained Burris. “It wasn’t until this year I knew I was in the running for it.

“It was a goal but I also didn’t want to worry about it too much and ruin my senior year. I didn’t want to be too disappointed. I just tried to do my best and if I didn’t get it, it is what it is kind of thing.”

Burris will continue his education at Franklin College to major in Actuarial Science and minor in Data Science.

“If I don’t become an Actuary, I plan to be a Risk Analyzer dealing more with investments,” he said. “I love math. I love numbers.”

Burris explored other educational options but found the nearby campus in Franklin a bonus.

“I can commute,” he said. “It makes it easier on me not having to worry about the cost of living right now.”

Burris currently works at Cutting Edge Pizzeria in Fairland and has a summer trip to Arkansas scheduled to do some camping in the Ozark Mountains before making final preparations to attend college.

“I’m not nervous so much about going there (to Franklin College) but just trying to juggle everything,” said Burris. “It’s a little different how classes work with their times. I think my longest day is six hours and my shortest day is one class and it’s 50 minutes.”

Burris also was a member of National Honor Society and Student Mentoring at Triton Central.

This is the sixth in a series of 10 feature stories by the Shelby County Post on Shelby County’s Class of 2024 valedictorians and salutatorians.