STARs Shine at State Banquet Tito Alofe of Starr’s Mill Is PAGE State STAR Student, Michelle Li of North Oconee Is State Runner-Up

Georgia’s STARs lit up the academic sky at the PAGE Student Teacher Academic Recognition (STAR) state banquet this year.

Tito Alofe, a senior at Starr’s Mill High School in Fayette County, won the State PAGE STAR Student award. He named Starr’s Mill’s John Campbell, as his STAR Teacher. Alofe won a $5,000 scholarship from PAGE, and Campbell received a $2,500 cash award from the Frances Wood Wilson Foundation. Both received engraved glass bowls to commemorate the moment.

Michelle Li, a senior at North Oconee High School in Oconee County, is the Runner-up State PAGE STAR Student. She named North Oconee’s Jackson Huckaby as her STAR Teacher. Li received a $1,000 scholarship from the PAGE Foundation, and Huckaby won the $500 Mozelle Christian Endowment Award. They both received engraved glass vases to commemorate the achievement.

The PAGE Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program honors Georgia’s highest-achieving high school seniors and the teachers they consider most instrumental in their academic development. Open to every accredited high school in the state, the program named its first winners in 1958. Since then, PAGE STAR has honored nearly 29,000 students and teachers.

To qualify for the state competition, each of the students won at both the school and region levels. Of the more than 1,2000 students and educators honored at individual schools, a total of 20 region winners competed to be named PAGE State STAR Student.

“PAGE is proud to be a part of providing these awards. STAR is one of the highlights of the year for me and for everyone at PAGE,” said Executive Director Craig Harper. “These students are the state’s brightest and best, and their STAR teachers are masters of their craft and leaders in their schools and communities.”

Learn more about the PAGE STAR program at https:// www.pageinc.org/star/

Other STAR Students and STAR Teachers (in parentheses) who qualified for state were:

Region 1

• Yujean Esther Shin (Jason Fields) Bremen High School

Region 2

• William Treyden Greene (Adam Greiving) Tallulah Falls School

Region 3A

• Aran Sonnad-Joshi (Amy Leonard) Midtown High School

• Emma Elizabeth Neville (Allison Tarvin) Pace Academy.

• Tianyue Xu (Alan Farnsworth) George Walton High School

• Matthew Edward Cargill (Ashley Kirby) Lassiter High School

• Ashwin Mudaliar (Kristen Carwile) Milton High School

• Rebecca Yu (Eric Hogya) Milton High School

• Eric Liu (Frank Yeats) Northview High School

• Aditi Venkatesh (Katie Massey) North Gwinnett High School

Region 4

• Victor Huang (Steven "Zach" Beebe) Oconee County High School

Region 5

• Sampan Ray Bhattacharyya (Lisa Mills) Columbus High School

Region 6

• Vishal Venkata Pothuraju (Leigh Moore) West Laurens High School

Region 7

• Sachi Priya Sharma (Eric Miller) Augusta Preparatory Day School

• Gracelynn Jieyun Xia (Jerry Meitin) Lakeside High School

• Song Ting Tang (Katelyn Hamilton) John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School

Region 8

• Edward Olmsted Henneman III (Paula Swart) Savannah Country Day School

• Nicklaus Downing Owens. (Sara Huntley) South Effingham High School

Region 9

• Eric Sebastian Bergrab (Vicki Davis) Sherwood Christian Academy

Region 10

• Clint Martin Wixson (Robert Garber) Fitzgerald High School

• Pearce Andrew Persaud. (Joy Owens) Valwood School

Region 11

• Griffin Lee (Jennifer Brashear) Glynn Academy