Mari Jablonski Is Jasper’s STAR
Mari Jablonski of Jasper County High School, was named Jasper County’s STAR (Student-Teacher Achievement Recognition) student last Friday during the annual STAR banquet held at Washington Park Elementary School. Miss Jablonksi named Christie McAlum as her STAR teacher.
Senior Emily Mills represented Piedmont Academy and chose Angie Marks as her STAR teacher. The STAR student is a senior who scored the highest on the SAT by a certain date. The STAR also must be in the top 10 percent or top 10 of their class. Each student and teacher had the opportunity to address the audience prior to the county STAR being named.
Miss Jablonski plans to attend Alfred University in Alfred, N.Y. while majoring in Studio Art and running cross country for the private university of less than 2,000 undergraduates. She said of her STAR teacher, “she is the best teacher I have ever had. I took her calculus class and it was really hard but I have been able to apply those lessons learned to other areas of my life.”
Mrs. McAlum noted that the Jasper County STAR is “clever and quick” which she learned working with the student in and out of the classroom. “It is impressive that she runs cross country and keeps up with all her classwork. She is just awesome.”
Miss Mills said that plans to attend the University of Georgia and major in biology are in her future. She spoke of a career in the medical field but not knowing exactly what yet. An emotional Emily said she chose Mrs. Marks as her STAR teacher because she was an exceptional teacher and that she had never met a teacher so devoted to her students.
Mrs. Marks called Emily a “dream student” whose resume includes all the usual stuff one would expect such as Beta Club and Honor Society.
However, it is her work ethic and intelligence that signals great things in her future, said the Piedmont Academy STAR teacher.
Jimmy Jordan, Jasper County native, retired educator, and current consultant for Professional Association of Georgia Educators (which provides educators with professional learning that enhances competency in the classroom) was the featured speaker for the occasion.
He shared a rousing story about Georgia’s 2020 Teacher of the Year Tracey Pendley of Atlanta Public Schools. He shared how Tracey experienced a difficult youth with a sickly mother and attending nine different schools. Her fourth grade teacher, Dr. Barbara Ann Ford, helped young Tracey see beyond the challenges which changed her life.
Dr. Ford saw that Tracey excelled in art and encouraged her to enter an art contest for which she was selected as a finalist. The reception included a trip to downtown Atlanta which a young Tracey knew she wouldn’t be able to make with her family. However, Dr. Ford made that trip happen for Tracey and her mother. It was that year that Dr. Ford was named Georgia’s Teacher of the Year and inspired the current honoree.
Mr. Jordan left some fruitful knowledge from Dr. Ford with audience members noting that “you know how many seeds are in an apple but you never know how many apples are in a seed,” thereby encouraging everyone to water every seed because there is potential everywhere.
