Riby Named 2023 STAR Student
Photo courtesy of DCSS/Optimist Club – Trenton Dade Optimist Club members honored the 2023 STAR Student and Teacher recently. Pictured are, from left, Don Townsend, Chairman of STAR Event, Tonya Gatlin, STAR Teacher, Leonard Riby, STAR Student, Brent Cooper, Principal of Dade County High School and Josh Ingle, Superintendent of Dade County School System.
The Trenton-Dade Optimist Club is pleased to announce the 2023 STAR Student and STAR Teacher awards for Dade County High School. The 2023 STAR Student for Dade County High School is Leonard Riby, and he has selected as his STAR Teacher Tonya Gatlin, who teaches business classes at Dade County High School.
Gatlin, Dade County High School principal Brent Cooper and DCHS guidance counselors James Emmett and Amanda Clark accompanied Riby, a senior at DCHS. Principal Cooper and Josh Ingle, School Superintendent, congratulated Riby, his parents and entire family support system for striving to be the best and represent his school with Wolverine pride.
The PAGE Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program, now in its 65th year, is sponsored, administered and promoted by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE). Since its creation in 1958, the STAR program has honored nearly 29,000 students and the teachers selected as the most influential to their academic achievement. 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.
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. 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 on with their STAR Students at every level of the program.
“We are very proud of Leonard Riby and Tonya Gatlin and the academic excellence they exemplify in our Dade County School System,” said Don Townsend, Chairman of STAR event for the Trenton-Dade Optimist Club.
The Professional Association of Georgia Educators honors outstanding students and educators, and encourages academic excellence through competitive programs such as PAGE STAR, PAGE Foundation Scholarships, and the PAGE Academic Bowl for Middle Grades, the PAGE Georgia Academic Decathlon and PAGE TV. To learn more about the PAGE Foundation and to donate, please visit www.pagefoundation.org.