The Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program honors Georgia’s outstanding high school seniors and the teachers who have been most instrumental in their academic development. During the past 59 years, the STAR Program has honored more than 26,000 high school seniors who have in turn chosen their STAR Teachers to share in this recognition.
The STAR program was launched in 1958 by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. In 1994, the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE) was invited to assume the responsibility for the oversight, administration and promotion of the state- wide program. The 92,000 members of PAGE are honored to recognize Georgia’s future leaders and the professional educators who have nurtured these scholars.
Every accredited high school in Georgia is eligible to participate in the STAR program. To obtain the STAR nomination, high school seniors must have the highest score on the test date on the SAT taken through the November test date of their senior year and be in the top 10 percent or top 10 students of their class based on grade point average. Each high school STAR Student is asked to name his/her STAR Teacher. High school STAR Students compete for system titles; and system STAR Students in turn compete for region honors in the 12 STAR Regions. Region winners and their STAR teachers are invited to Atlanta to compete for the state STAR scholarships and awards.
Locally, STAR Students and STAR Teachers are honored by their schools and receive special recognition in their communities from the more than 165 civic organizations and businesses that serve as local sponsors of the STAR program. The State PAGE STAR Banquet, held in Atlanta last month, recognized local STAR students from all over Georgia.
The following is a list of the 2017 East Cobb high school students and teachers. STAR Students were honored at the annual State PAGE Student and Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) banquet on April 24.
KELL HIGH SCHOOL
STAR Student: Jonathan “Nate” Morris
STAR Teacher: Davanna Silva
LASSITER HIGH SCHOOL
STAR Student: Christopher Freel
STAR Teacher: Dr. Wylie Brown
POPE HIGH SCHOOL
STAR Student: Alexander Reedy
STAR Teacher: Luisa Munar
SPRAYBERRY HIGH SCHOOL
STAR Student: Ian Burke
STAR Teacher: Tanya Lancee
WALTON HIGH SCHOOL
STAR Student: Lucy Wang – Region Winner
STAR Teacher: Alan Farnsworth
WHEELER HIGH SCHOOL
STAR Student: Erwin Cai – Samuel West
STAR Teacher: Mark Hoskins
This article originally appeared in the May issue of the EAST COBBER magazine, on page 8. Click HERE to access the digital edition.
