Hosted by the Harlem Woman’s Club for the 64th annual year, Columbia County celebrated accomplished students at the STAR Program recognition reception on Thursday night, Feb. 8, in the Harlem Baptist Church.
The STAR program, otherwise known as the Student Teacher Achievement Recognition program, identifies high school students who received the highest score on the SAT on a single test date and fall in the top 10% or top 10 of their class, based on grade point average.
Each STAR student is then tasked with selecting a teacher to receive the honor of being recognized as a STAR teacher.
During the event, in the spirit of recognizing outstanding students and teachers, Harlem Mayor Roxanne Whitaker also proclaimed Feb. 8 as student and teacher recognition day.
Following the mayor’s declaration, Columbia County 2024 District Teacher of the Year Crystal McDowell encouraged students to continue exploring and growing within their chosen field of interest.
“Consider what is your role,“ she said. “Innovation does not happen in isolation. You need the right setting and the right people to make innovation occur … consider what will you do with your knowledge, your abilities and your creativity. I challenge each of us today to be the next group of innovators.”
Seven students and teachers from across the Columbia County School District and two Augusta preparatory schools were honored and invited to share more about themselves.
Candidates and their corresponding teachers included: Augusta Christian student Ally Elizabeth Gordon and Sarah White, Augusta Preparatory School student Mayah Mae Li Nussbaum and James Mason, Evans High School student Samuel Joseph Hobbs and Steven Hahn, Greenbrier High School student Camden Louis Parada and Crystal McDowell, Grovetown High School student Helen Alissa Alan and Amy Lewis, Harlem High School student Matthias Steadman and Sgt. Maj. Desire Edmond and Lakeside High School student Zhengyu “Jerry” Lu and John Cato.
After each teacher and student spoke kind and congratulatory words about the other, Hobbs was awarded as the overall STAR student and received the Margie Bennett Memorial Scholarship.
“It’s nice to be able to feel accomplished and know that I am doing good work, even if it’s sometimes hard to accept that and myself,” said Hobbs. “It’s very good to help you get past your own self doubt, because often you are your own greatest critic.”
According to Hobbs’ teacher, Hahn, the soft-spoken and humble student is always striving for perfection and can sometimes struggle to see his own value and potential, which made receiving the award much more meaningful.
“He doesn’t always accept compliments as well as he should, but he is truly amazing,” said Hahn.
Describing Hobbs as “methodical” and a “perfectionist,” Hahn said his student has been invaluable to Evans High School’s competitive CyberPatriot team, which ranked 38th out of 6,000 teams.
“He is a cornerstone of that team,” Hahn said. “His talents in cybersecurity makes it easy … all I do is give him opportunities to show off his talents.”
As students and teachers took celebratory photos and parents proudly hugged their children, Columbia County board member Lee Ann Meyer said she was incredibly happy to see the STAR award given to a high school senior that needed to feel seen and valued.
“Those students are the ones that really have my heart, and we have amazing students all across the county – some of them with different abilities,” she said. “So I’m very proud of all of our students, but when you see one that’s just so sweet and humble receive an accolade like this really does my heart good, because we’re not just serving the elite.”
Hobbs said his plans after graduating from Evans High School will include specializing in computer science and cybersecurity.
Liz Wright is a staff writer covering education, lifestyle and general assignments for The Augusta Press. Reach her at liz@theaugustapress.com
