VALDOSTA – Jon Qiaoen Liu, a Lowndes High School senior, has been named the 2022 Professional Association of Georgia Educators Student Teacher Achievement Recognition student region winner for PAGE STAR Region 10. 

The announcement was made by Marta Walker, PAGE Impact Project for the PAGE STAR program. Liu selected Rebecca Martin, honors calculus and AP calculus teacher at Lowndes High School, as his STAR teacher, school officials said in a statement.

The STAR program, in its 64th year, is sponsored, administered and promoted by PAGE. Since its creation in 1958, the STAR program has honored nearly 28,500 students and the teachers selected as the most influential to their academic achievement, school officials said. To obtain the 2022 STAR nomination, 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.

STAR begins each year in participating high schools throughout Georgia when the STAR student is named and chooses a STAR teacher to share in this recognition, school officials said. 

The students and their teachers are honored by their schools and receive special recognition in their communities from one of the more than 170 statewide civic organizations and businesses that serve as local sponsors of the STAR program. 

Students then compete for school system titles and those winners compete for region honors. Region winners compete for the honor of being named State PAGE STAR student. STAR teachers continue with their STAR students at every level of the program.

PAGE honors outstanding students and educators and encourages academic excellence through competitive academic initiatives such as PAGE STAR, the PAGE Academic Bowl for Middle Grades, and the PAGE Georgia Academic Decathlon.

“We are very proud of Jon Liu, Rebecca Martin and the academic excellence they exemplify at Lowndes High School,” Karil Brockington, Region 10 coordinator from the Valdosta-Lowndes Chamber of Commerce, said.