Shane Michael Mudrinich, a senior at Fayette County’s Starr’s Mill High School, is the runner-up State PAGE STAR Student and chose Nancy Close, his eleventh-grade AP English Language teacher, as his STAR Teacher.
The announcement came at the State PAGE (Professional Association of Georgia Educators) STAR Banquet April 29 at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia in Atlanta. Twenty STAR Student Region Winners were finalists in the culminating event of the STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Recognition) program, which began earlier this year with the naming of 515 local STAR Students from each of the participating public and independent schools across the state. This year’s class of STAR Students and STAR Teachers is the largest honored in the program’s history. Nine of this year’s finalists scored 2400 on one administration of the SAT, and all are in the top ten percent or top ten of their class.
“With STAR we come together as a community to honor academic excellence among students and professional excellence among teachers,” said PAGE Foundation President John Varner. “Those we recognize as STAR Students and STAR Teachers are role models who set a high standard for themselves and through their examples inspire the rest of us to do likewise. The PAGE Foundation is proud to join with business, education and community leaders in ceremonies that recognize the students and teachers who earned the titles STAR Student and STAR Teacher,” he added.
The program, now in its 55th year, is sponsored by the PAGE Foundation, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the Georgia Department of Education, with the PAGE Foundation having primary responsibility for the program since 1994. Other sponsors of the event include: AT&T Georgia; Frances Wood Wilson Foundation, Inc.; Price Gilbert, Jr. Charitable Fund; Professional Association of Georgia Educators; The Coca-Cola Company and The Mozelle Christian Endowment. Since its inception, the program has honored more than 23,500 students and their teachers for academic excellence.
Runner-up State PAGE STAR Student Shane Mudrinich was presented a $1,000 scholarship from the PAGE Foundation by PAGE Foundation Chair and VALIC Southeast Region Vice President Allen Thomas. He also received a $1,000 scholarship from The Coca-Cola Company presented by J. Mark Davis, president of The Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. Mudrinich is the son of Vicki and Robert Mudrinich and is a resident of Fayetteville, Georgia. The Runner-up State PAGE STAR Teacher Nancy Close of Peachtree City, Georgia, received the $500 Mozelle Christian Endowment Award and a $500 award from the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
The PAGE Foundation, PAGE and The Coca-Cola Company sponsored the State Banquet. The Coca-Cola Company also sponsored the evening reception and presented each of the 20 finalists with a $100 cash award. Each finalist and their teacher received a hand-blown glass star by Lillie Glassblowers from The PAGE Foundation presented by PAGE Executive Director
Dr. Allene Magill and PAGE Foundation Chair Allen Thomas. Local STAR Students and STAR Teachers attending the banquet received a memento of the evening. At their region events, Region STAR Students received a $250 Cash Scholarship from the Price Gilbert, Jr. Charitable Fund and a $250 Cash Scholarship from the PAGE Foundation. Region STAR Teachers received a $200 award from the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
STAR is one of several programs of academic excellence sponsored by the PAGE Foundation. Other academic competitions include the PAGE Georgia Academic Decathlon (GAD) and the PAGE Academic Bowl for Middle Grades. Through its sponsorship of Future Educators Association of Georgia (FEA Georgia), Student Professional Association of Georgia Educators (SPAGE), PAGE Foundation Scholarships and PAGE professional learning, the foundation works to recruit capable people to the teaching profession and provide career-long professional learning opportunities for educators.
