The Kiwanis Club of Gainesville held its annual STAR Student and Teacher luncheon Tuesday afternoon, honoring students and teachers in Hall County and Gainesville.
A press release from the Hall County School District said the annual event sees all of the city and county high schools' STAR Students and STAR Teachers recognized with a framed certificate, sponsored by Gainesville Kiwanis.
The PAGE Student Teacher Achievement Recognition program is sponsored, administered and promoted by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators and the PAGE Foundation. High school seniors must have the highest score on a single test date on the SAT and be in the top 10% or top 10 students of their class based on grade point average to qualify for STAR nomination.
The list of 2024's winners is as follows:
Hall County School District
- Cherokee Bluff High School - Macie Merchant (student) and Jeremy Purdy (teacher)
- Chestatee High School - Iliyan Nazarali (student) and Darrell Skogman (teacher)
- East Hall High School - Colton Hewell (student) and Daniel Stainback (teacher). Also named System STAR Student and Teacher.
- Flowery Branch High School - Joshua Warren (student) and Richard Herndon (teacher). Also named System STAR Student and Teacher.
- Johnson High School - Emily Pethel (student) and Scott McConnell (teacher)
- Lanier Christian Academy - Gracie Cooper (student) and Fe Gladden (teacher)
- Lanier College & Career Academy - Halle Barrett (student) and Anuel Burce (teacher)
- North Hall High School - Porter Brown (student) and Alvin Self (teacher)
- West Hall High School - Samuel Patten (student) and Adam Johnson (teacher)
Gainesville City School System
- Gainesville High School - Joseph Alvarez (student) and Chandra Karnati (teacher). Also named System STAR Student and Teacher.
- Lakeview Academy - Scott Rivenbark (student) and Joseph Kudyba (teacher)
- Riverside Military Academy - Ethan Sun (student) and Marc Paglia (teacher)
East Hall High School Senior Colton Hewell and Flowery Branch High School Senior Joshua Warren tied for the 2024 Hall County STAR students.
The winners from East Hall, Flowery Branch and Gainesville High Schools received special recognition and were named System STAR Students and Teachers (as marked above).
The University of North Georgia's College of Education will host the Region 2 recognition on March 22, featuring STAR winners from across North Georgia. Region 2 consists of schools in the following counties: Dawson, Fannin, Gainesville City, Gilmer, Habersham, Hall, Lumpkin, Pickens, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, White, and Mountain Ed. Charter School System.
Region winners then compete to be named the Georgia PAGE STAR Student. STAR Teachers continue with their STAR Students at every level of the program.
