McDuffie County announced its STAR student at a last Thursday's Rotary Club meeting at Belle Meade Country Club.
Julianna Ledford, senior at Thomson High School, was recognized as the McDuffie County STAR student and she selected Brad Bohler, Thomson High School Math teacher, as her STAR teacher.
The Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE) Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program has honored roughly 28,000 students and the teachers they have selected who have had the most influence or had the greatest impact on them and their academic achievements.
The STAR program is in its 65th year. The program awards the student with the best SAT score, and that student must be in the top 10 percent, or top 10 in grade point average (GPA) in their class.
Mcduffie County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mychele Rhodes introduced Ledford.
"This year, our STAR Student is Juliana Ledford. Juliana has been in the Girl Scouts program since first grade and is currently serving as an ambassador. She has also been involved with archery for the last six years. She recently started an internship at The McDuffie Progress newspaper this semester," said Rhodes, "Julianna has enrolled in the dual enrollment program full time at Augusta University. She intends to further her education at UGA or Mercer to major in mechanical engineering. She plans to enroll in a program to get both her bachelor's and master's degree in five years. Please help me welcome Julian Ledford."
Ledford said she was very happy when she found out she was receiving the honor of being named McDuffie County’s STAR Student.
She didn’t realize until after she took the SAT a few times that being the STAR Student was an opportunity.
“I was kind of just hoping that what I already had was good enough,” Ledford said. “I guess it was."
Ledford said her highest score was 1430. She was happy with the score, but still felt she could’ve done better.
“I thought it was a little low, like I could’ve done better,” Ledford said.
After she graduates from high school, she plans on attending either the University of Georgia or Mercer University, to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
“Mostly, I’m really good at math,” Ledford said as to why she wants to pursue mechanical engineering.
Along with the math portion, she also enjoys the sciences of it all and felt it is a good way to go.
She added there isn’t anything specific that she wants to work towards other than becoming an engineer.
“Mostly, just being an engineer,” Ledford said.
Being able to obtain her degree in a relatively quick timeframe was something that stood out to her about her top college choices. Ledord is currently taking classes at Augusta University while in her senior year at THS.
“Both of those schools have programs where you can get your bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five years or less, so that’s the main draw of both of those schools,” Ledford said.
Outside of her studies, Ledford enjoys archery, reading, and arts and crafts.
Ledford said she selected Brad Bohler as STAR Teacher of the Year because of his dedication to all students.
"I chose my STAR Teacher because he is my favorite teacher and he really encouraged us and not let anybody fail the class. He was very encouraging, and he would help anybody with any issues that when they didn't understand, nobody got left behind," she said.
Bohler said he was surprised to be honored. Bohler said Mrs. Grant, a guidance counselor at Thomson High School, asked him to fill out some paperwork.
“I didn’t know what it was for and she pointed to the top and it said STAR Teacher, and I forgot my address,” Bohler said. “I actually about started crying a little bit. I was very happy.”
Bohler said that as a teacher, being honored as STAR Teacher is about as good as it gets.
“With a student like her, good Lord, I mean she is incredible,” Bohler said.
Bohler first taught Ledford and her sister, Isabella, during their freshmen year at Thomson High School.
“She hardly said anything, but she already knew what we were doing to start with, so everything was a 100," said Bohler. "Then we got to the part she didn’t know, and everything was a 100.”
Once Ledford got to Calculus, Bohler said he got to know his student a little better, and she remained undaunted by the challenges — she was still getting a 100 on everything.
“She’s the only person I’ve had that’s had it that easy, and every time I do something real fast on the board, I turn around and look at her and make sure I had the right answer,” Bohler said. “I know if she gave me the heads up, I was okay.”
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