The top high school seniors that scored the highest SAT scores in the county were honored by the Conyers and Rockdale Rotary Clubs Thursday.
The PAGE Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program honors high school seniors in the top tenth of their class who achieve the highest SAT scores and a teacher each of the students choose to honor.
Rockdale's STAR students and teachers for 2014 were:
Ellen Dement of Heritage High with art history teacher James W. Hauck
Sarah Jawar of Salem High with U.S. History teacher Mike Head
Benjamin Thomas Smart of Rockdale County High with teacher and MCJROTC instructor Tim Harris
Carson Elizabeth Norwood with chemistry teacher Diana Kennen of Rockdale Magnet School
Ellen Dement of Heritage High School was also named the overall winner for Rockdale County out of the four seniors honored Thursday.
Diane Adoma, Youth Chair of Conyers Rotary Club, said, "We are very proud of Ellen Dement and Mr. James Hauck and the academic excellence they exemplify at Heritage High School."
Earl Wise of the Conyers Rotary spoke about the spirit of generosity and the virtues of wisdom, justice, moderation as described by Chick-fil-a founder Truett Cathy.
Superintendent Richard Autry also commended the work of the teachers that make the students' and school system's peformance possible. "Before we can have STAR students, we must have STAR teachers," he said.
The PAGE Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program, now in its 57th year, is sponsored by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE) Foundation, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the Georgia Department of Education. Since its inception, the STAR program has honored more than 24,000 students and the teachers they have selected as having had the most influence on their academic success. To obtain the STAR nomination, high school seniors must have the highest score on a single test date on the three-part SAT and be in the top 10 percent or top 10 students of their class base on grade point average.
STAR begins each year in participating high schools throughout Georgia when the STAR Student is named and chooses a STAR Teacher to share in this recognition. The students and their teachers are honored by their schools and receive special recognition in their communities from one of the more than 165 statewide civic organizations and businesses that serve as local sponsors of the STAR program. Students then compete for school system titles, and those winners compete for region honors. Region Winners compete for the honor of being named State PAGE STAR Student.
