On Wednesday, March 15, the Region 8 STAR Student/Teacher Banquet was held at Georgia Southern University. The event took place in the College of Engineering and Information Technology building at 11:30am.
16 counties of STAR Students and Teachers were recognized for outstanding scholastic achievement over the course of their high school careers. However, for this year, two STAR Students tied to receive the regional honor. In a non-typical result, both STAR Students were named as the Region 8 STAR Student winners by the PAGE STAR committee.
The 2023 "STAR Student" winners are:
Edward (Ned) Henneman III from Savannah Country Day School (Chatham County)
AND
Nicklaus Owens from South Effingham High School (Effingham County).
Their respective STAR teachers are Ms. Paula Swart (Ned’s Orchestra Teacher-Chatham County) and Mrs. Sara Huntley (Nick’s ECCA Mathematics Teacher-Effingham County). The announcement was made by the Region 8 PAGE STAR sponsor, The Exchange Club of Statesboro. The Exchange Club of Statesboro collectively expresses that they are “very proud of Edward and Nicklaus. We are additionally proud of their respective STAR teachers, Ms. Swart and Mrs. Huntley. We have loved hearing of the academic excellence which they have exemplified at their schools.”
(Left to Right: Mrs. Sara Huntley, Nick Owens, Ned Henneman, Ms. Paula Swart)
All of Region 8’s winners attended the luncheon which included several guest speakers. Among the guest speakers were Linda Wood (PAGE Membership Service Representative), Dr. David A Williams (Associate Dean for Georgia Southern Students), and Dr. Amy Clines (Director of Georgia Southern Admissions). Also, WTOC’s Dal Cannady hosted the mid-portion of the event. Cannady went around the room, interviewing each STAR student artfully about their scholastic achievements and future plans.
The event culminated with Linda Wood presenting the STAR student award to Henneman and Owens and their STAR teachers. The two, STAR winner selection is an unlikely occurrence for the PAGE STAR organization. Typically only one STAR student and STAR teacher is normally chosen. However, with Henneman and Owens both undertaking such rigorous curriculums, in addition to extra-curricular activities, and achieving similar standardized testing metrics, their dual honor became inevitable.
Now, STAR is an acronym for the phrase Student Teacher Achievement Program. And the PAGE STAR program, in its 65th year, is sponsored and promoted by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE). To obtain the 2023 STAR nomination, high school seniors must have the highest score on a single test date on the SAT and be in the top 10 percent or top 10 students of their class based on grade point average. Once a school’s STAR Student is named, local county school STAR students compete for their county titles. After the county winner is chosen, county winners compete against each other for their region's honors. Regional winners compete for the honor of being named the State PAGE STAR Student. STAR Teachers move forward in the process with their STAR Students at every level of the program.
Henneman and Owens will move on to attend the PAGE STAR Banquet in Duluth, GA at the Sonesta Gwinnett Place Atlanta on Monday April 24, 2023.
The State PAGE STAR Student will be selected from the STAR Region Winners by a panel of judges.
Please see the following images below for the full list of 2023 Region 8 System Winners, as well as local sponsors for each county.