Decatur Rotary Club honors STAR award students and teachers

By Jim Bass, Decaturish

DECATUR, Ga — The Decatur Rotary Club and PAGE (Professional Association of Georgia Educators) honored the top students and teachers of DeKalb County this week by hosting the annual STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Recognition) awards.

PAGE’s annual STAR program, created in 1958, honors Georgia’s highest-achieving high school seniors. Each student nominates a STAR teacher who was most instrumental in their academic development.

Held at the Historic DeKalb Courthouse, the awards welcomed the top students and teachers of DeKalb County to a lunch and ceremony, with several noted attendees, according to a Decatur Rotary Club news release.

Honored guests included Decatur City Manager Andrea Arnold, Georgia State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, DeKalb School Board member Deidre Pierce, and many school board members and staff from Decatur and DeKalb.

Students and teachers both received their STAR certificates and Chick-fil-A gift certificates, and each high school winner had their picture taken. Each student was given an opportunity to thank their STAR teachers, whom they nominated for their impact on their education and lives, and shared their next steps after high school.

Several students and teachers were ‘System STAR Students’ who now compete for region-wide honors across the 12 STAR regions. These student-teacher combinations are:

Chamblee Charter High School STAR student: Alexander Alexandrov and teacher Lucretia Gant

Decatur High School STAR student: Nia Batra and teacher Erika Leach

“The Decatur Rotary Club is honored to host this fantastic event to honor students and teachers. We are all uplifted and encouraged to see and hear from some of the brightest students in our community, and to recognize the work of the fantastic teachers who inspire them,” Decatur Rotary President Alison Weissenger said.

Here is a full list of STAR student and teacher honorees:

Arabia Mountain High School: Symone Smith and teacher Gregory Boatwright

Ben Franklin Academy: Matthew Skop and teacher Martha Burdette

Cedar Grove High School: Joseph Hill and teacher Linda Jackson

Chamblee Charter High School: Alexander Alexandrov and teacher Lucretia Gant

Clarkston High School: Daniel Shine and teacher John Kleinhenz

Columbia High School: Heaven Dudley and teacher Lauren Lopez

Cross Keys High School: Mahabubul Hasan Sowrav and teacher Ana White

Decatur High School: Nia Batra and teacher Erika Leach

DeKalb Early College Academy: Raymond Yang and teacher Nicholas Johnson

DeKalb School of the Arts: Sojourner Anderson and teacher Oriana Valencia-Velasque

Druid Hills High School: Harper Walton-Mouw and teacher Marya Walker

Dunwoody High School: Sophia Biggs and teacher Kevin Travis

Dunwoody High School: Aditya Zaveri and teacher Pushpa Rajan

Greenforest-McCalep Christian Academy: Anointed Adams and teacher Mark Jones

Lakeside High School: Anderson Starks and teacher Michael Young

Lithonia High School: Kaitlyn Parks and teacher Kimberly Daniel

Marist School: Charles Frame and teacher Eric McNaughton

Martin Luther King, Jr. High School: Harlyn Petty and teacher Thomas Gilfert

McNair High School: Janiyah Kirkwood and teacher Danielle Garriott

Miller Grove High School: Hawi Hasseen and teacher Tennille Rainey

Redan High School: Patrick Yidin and teacher Carlita Scarboro-Vazquez

Southwest DeKalb High School: Inara Stewart and teacher Luwanna Kimbro

St. Pius X Catholic High School: Liv Casal and teacher Kristin Kramer

Stephenson High School: Noor Al Mashhadani and teacher Jasmine Bright

Stone Mountain High School: Mohamdhussen Aljabry and teacher Douglas Dakin

Tapestry Public Charter School: Benjamin Radford and teacher Pritul Patel

Towers High School: Tahira Gates and teacher Cynthia White

Tucker High School: Akosua Baah and teacher Lisa York

W.D. Mohammed High School: Syed Sultan and teacher Muslimah Ali Najee-ullah