Time of the year has arrived for Georgia’s Student Teacher Achievement Recognitions, or STAR, as the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, or PAGE, has announced the Richmond County winners for 2023.
Each year the STAR program recognizes outstanding high school seniors for their academic achievements, along with the educators who mentored them.
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce created the program in 1958, part of the national response to Russia’s launching of Sputnik the previous year.
“It caused a greater emphasis nationwide on what we’re now calling STEM education,” said attorney John Bell Jr. of the Bell Law Firm. Bell has been managing the STAR program in Richmond County on behalf of the Kiwanis Club in Augusta for more than 40 years.
The PAGE Foundation began coordinating the statewide program at the behest of the Georgia Chamber and the Department of Education, in 1994.
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Each year the foundation nominates graduating students from every high school in each county, selecting from those who have the highest SAT score and in the top 10%, or who are among the top 10 students of their graduating class based on grade point average.
Nominees’ SAT scores must be equal to or higher than the latest national average scores on the SAT’s Evidence Based Reading and Writing and Math sections.
The STAR students are asked to name a teacher they found especially beneficial to their education, who then becomes the STAR teacher for that school.
“The interesting thing is how frequently teachers are named repeatedly by subsequent STAR students as being their most inspirational teacher,” said Bell.
PAGE honors local STAR students and teachers through special recognitions held by civic organizations. In Richmond County, the Augusta Kiwanis Club organizes the ceremony to celebrate the academic achievers.
A winner for the school system is selected at this event, and that winner goes on to compete with other STAR Students to be regional and then state winners.
The program honoring PAGE STAR Students and Teachers in Richmond County will be held Monday, Jan. 30 at noon, in the River Room at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, at 605 Reynolds St.
The Richmond County STAR winners are listed below:
Elijah Graham Cosper, Aquinas High School. Teacher: Casey Wolfe. Parents: Christopher and Elizabeth Cosper.
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Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
