Stephens Co. Names STAR Student, Teacher

Stephens County finds out its STAR Student.

Casey Dale Ramsey, a senior at Stephens County High School, is the 2016 STAR Student for the Stephens County School System.

That was announced this week by the local STAR program sponsor, the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce.

Ramsey is the son of Ms. Lisa Ramsey.

He said he was surprised to receive the STAR Student honor.

” I did not know I would get it,” said Ramsey. “I really was not expecting it because I talked to a few people about their SAT scores because I knew it was based on that and thought some people might do better than me, so I was in for a little bit of a surprise when they told me, but definitely happy about it.”

To earn the 2016 STAR nomination, high school seniors must have the highest score on a single test date on the 3-part SAT and be in the top 10 percent or top 10 students of their class based on their 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.

Ramsey selected Tamera Cash, a Mathematics teacher at Stephens County High School as his STAR Teacher.

He said Cash was a huge part of his high school success, having had her for three years.

“Got to know her really well,” said Ramsey. “She was almost like my mom at school. She was always so helpful to me with college applications.”

Cash said she is honored to be Ramsey’s STAR Teacher.

“It is always a pleasure and an honor for one of your students to choose you as their STAR teacher because it just says something about the relationship you had with the student.”

She went on to say that Ramsey was a pleasure to have in class.

“His personality, it has grown and evolved,” said Cash. “He always kept the class upbeat.”

Ramsey said after this year, he is headed to Yale University to study neurobiology with the goal of being a neurologist.

But first comes the Regional STAR Competition on March 15 at a banquet at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega.

The Professional Association of Georgia Educators Student Teacher Achievement Recognition Program, or STAR, program, now in its 58th year, is sponsored, administered and promoted by the PAGE Foundation.

Since its inception, the STAR program has honored nearly 25,000 students and the teachers they have selected as having had the most influence on their academic achievement.