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Kalin Kennedy and Anthony Johnson
Anthony Johnson has been named White County High School’s STAR student for the Class of 2022, choosing Kalin Kennedy as STAR teacher.
The Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) award is a recognition by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators. To be named STAR student, a student must be a senior of an accredited Georgia public or private school, score the highest on a single test date for the SAT, and at the end of their junior year be in the top 10 % of the students or the top ten of their graduating class.
“I was happy, because at first I didn’t know if I would get it. Not just because of the high SAT score but because I wasn’t technically considered a senior,” Johnson said of learning of the honor. “There was also that chance that they wouldn’t even consider me for it, so I was happy I got it after trying to get it for a while.”
Johnson took the SAT twice and was able to reach his qualifying score in October 2021, which would have been his junior year.
Johnson participated in Odyssey of the Mind in middle school, which got him interested in engineering and problem-solving.
“You basically just have to solve a problem creatively, and I did the vehicle problem three years in a row. And two out of three years I made it to the world finals,” said Johnson.
The STAR student has also participated in the agriculture program this year and has been learning to operate a computer numerical control (CNC) machine, which allow manufacturers to produce parts in less time, reduce waste and eliminate the risk of human error.
Johnson wants to major in mechanical engineering and has already applied to a few colleges. He says he would prefer to attend the University of Georgia in the fall. He also wants to start working a job this summer.
Kennedy, who is WCHS’s STAR teacher for the third year in a row, was excited to be chosen but he wasn’t surprised.
“Last semester Anthony had already told me if he was STAR student he would pick me, so that’s why I was reading the fine print on whether or not Anthony would qualify,” he said. “So once I heard on the announcement that he was STAR student, I was already peaking out my door.”
Kennedy was able to teach Johnson pre-calculus, and described him as “a joy to teach.”
“Anthony always enjoyed what we were doing,” he said. “I would say the harder it was, the more he enjoyed it.”