VALDOSTA — Katelyn Stokes is the 2010 STAR Student for Region 10.

The Lowndes High Senior and her STAR teacher Susan Cowart will represent the region at the state STAR banquet on April 28 in Atlanta.

Stokes and the 15 other Region 10 STAR students and teachers were honored Tuesday night at the Valdosta Country Club hosted by the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce and PAGE STAR Program.

Stokes is a newcomer to Valdosta and Lowndes High, having enrolled at the school before her senior year. Prior to coming to Valdosta she and her family lived in Korea, as her father is a member of the U.S. Air Force.

In the fall, Stokes plans to attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and major in psychology and minor in music.

She hopes to one day combine her passion for helping people with her love of music when she opens her own psychiatry practice, she said.

Stokes praised the dedication of her STAR teacher Cowart, who is her Advanced Placement Calculus teacher.

“She has a genuine enthusiasm for math,” Stokes said.

Though Stokes and Cowart took home the top honor of the night, all of the STAR students and teachers took a moment to share their dreams for the future and the important role education has played in their lives.

Teachers from all spectrums of learning were honored at the event including a middle school teacher and a fine arts teacher.

Teresa Middleton was chosen by Valdosta High STAR student Jordan Rickman as his STAR teacher, her first such nomination in more than 20 years in education.

Rickman plans to major in computer science in college. He chose Middleton for her unrelenting drive to make him further expand his skills in drawing.

Middleton praised all the students and teachers at the event for their hard work and noted that not just the academics but fine arts as well need to be valued.

“Without fine arts  they are not going to be creative and innovative, they are just going to be intelligent,” she said.

Echols County           High School had two students achieve STAR          status, Elizabeth Register and Matthew Rivera.

Rivera, who plans to eventually become a doctor and open a practice in Statenville, claimed that medicine is something that has always been with him as his mother is a nurse.

“I was born in a hospital, raised in a hospital, spent volunteer hours in a hospital and I plan to spend the summer in a hospital,” he said.

Two students honored at Tuesday’s ceremony are already attending college.

John Stephen from Berrien High School is currently enrolled at Valdosta State University.

Telfair County High School student Matthew Kahrmann is not only enrolled in college but will graduate from high school two years early.

His STAR teacher, Sheryl Johnson, is a high school math teacher and taught Kahrmann alongside her sophomores and juniors when he was a seventh and eighth grader.

To obtain the Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) status, a student has to have the highest Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) score and be in the top 10 percent of his or her graduating class.

Annually, the top academic senior in each participating high school is named the STAR Student for that school. High school STAR students compete for system titles, then district-wide honors. District winners and their teachers are then invited to Atlanta to compete for the state STAR awards.

The Professional Association of Georgia Educators Foundation Inc. is the state coordinator and primary state sponsor for the STAR program.

The Georgia Department of Education and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce co-sponsor the state program.



2010 STAR student and teacher system winners:

Student and Teacher

• Charlton Gillis, Atkinson County High School; Nohemy Brewer

• Ashley Harper, Fitzgerald High School; Lee Dorsett

• John Stephen, Berrien High School; Louis Burns

• Hannah Hodum, Brooks County High School; Zinda McDaniel

• Emily Butler, Clinch County High School; Avery Cooper

• Kimberly Purvis, Coffee High School; Michael Tanner

• Caleb Atkinson, Cook High School; Joseph Durrance

• Elizabeth Register, Echols County High School    ; Freddy Sublett

• Matthew Rivera, Echols County High School; Ralph Beckham

• Deven Russell, Irwin County High School; Angie Dill

• Katelyn Stokes, Lowndes High School; Susan Cowart

• Matthew Kahrmann, Telfair County High School; Sheryl Johnson

• Murray Kelly, Tift County High School; Dr. Patti Barber

• Alexander Ellis, Turner County High School; Rachel Flake

• Jordan Rickman, Valdosta High School; Teresa Middleton