Marshall and Gabriella St. Amant have established The Dr. Carmen Posada-Pepper and the Marshall St. Amant Family Scholarship in the St. Joseph’s Academy Foundation. The purpose of the scholarship is to provide tuition assistance to deserving students and their families.
The scholarship honors Dr. Posada-Pepper, Gabriella’s mother, who passed away in June of 2022 at the age of 92. Born in Puerto Rico, Dr. Posada-Pepper graduated from Tulane Medical School and was a pediatrician in the Greater New Orleans area for more than 50 years. She was a pioneer in her field of juvenile diabetes and served as president of the Louisiana Pediatric Society and president of the Greater New Orleans Diabetes Association.
“My mother used to say that the best gift you can give a child is the best education possible,” Gabriella said. “It is a gift that no one can take from you, and it sets you on a path that opens you to all the things this world has to offer. SJA has done this for countless young women and hopefully will do this for countless more.”
The St. Amants have two children: Bella, a 2016 graduate of St. Joseph’s Academy, and Marshall, who graduated from Catholic High School in 2019. Bella graduated in 2020 from the University of Mississippi’s Croft Institute for International Studies. She recently completed her master’s degree in Anthropology of Development and Social Transformation at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. Marshall graduated from Ole Miss in 2023. He is currently studying towards his master’s degree in Classical Language at the University of Georgia.
Gabriella said that Bella’s time at SJA truly symbolized her parents’ belief in a quality education. Gabriella and her siblings have passed that philosophy on to their children. “St. Joseph’s offered such an incredible foundation for Bella, and both Marshall and I feel that she has been able to succeed academically both in college and graduate school due to the strong foundation she received at SJA,” she said. “This scholarship is our way of giving the opportunity of a faith-based education to someone for whom this may have been out of reach.”
Bella said she is grateful for the foundation she received at the Academy. “Attending SJA paved the way for me to communicate confidently and act boldly both in and outside of the classroom,” Bella said. “I spent my four years at the University of Mississippi continuing to sharpen the skills I first learned at SJA as a writer, communicator and community leader.”
Later this fall, Bella will begin her career in ethical and sustainable fashion in the UK. She said the confidence and courage to live and work abroad can be traced to her Academy education. She also credits her grandmother. “Her life is a powerful testament to a woman’s capacity to accomplish anything she sets her mind to with the help of an excellent education and attentive mentorship,” Bella said. “I am certain that this scholarship will support the aspirations of several SJA alumnae to come.”
Mindy Brodhead Averitt
Communications Director
Photos provided by the St. Amant Family