Hall County STAR student Matthew Olson will advance to the state STAR student banquet on April 22 in Atlanta.
Olson, a Chestatee High School senior, represented Hall County on Thursday in the regional STAR student showdown. Olson named his calculus teacher, Darrell Skogman, as his STAR teacher.

The Student Teacher Achievement Recognition program honors Georgia’s outstanding high school seniors and the teachers who have been most instrumental in their academic development. Over the past 50 years, the STAR Program has honored more than 21,000 high school seniors who have in turn chosen their STAR teachers to share in this recognition.

Skogman accompanied Olson to the regional award ceremony and celebrated with Olson when he was announced the Northeast Georgia region’s STAR student. The awards were based on Scholastic Aptitude Test scores.

Skogman said he feels honored Olson chose him as his STAR teacher. The Chestatee teacher said Olson is a born mathematician, and will excel at Georgia Tech next year where he plans to study engineering.

“I’m proud of him,” Skogman said. “We heard from 13 kids last night, and they’re all the best of the best. (Olson) is the kind of kid you want representing your high school.”

Skogman said he’s looking forward to the state banquet in Atlanta. That’s where the Professional Association of Georgia Educators will play host to the state’s leading teachers and students at a downtown hotel. The state’s STAR student will be announced at the event.
Olson said he expects to be surrounded with some stellar scholars.

“So far they’ve based everything on SAT scores, but I think they’re going to interview us at the state get-together,” he said.

“All the people at the banquet (Thursday) were of course really smart,” Olson said. “It’s definitely going to be stiff competition.”