Marion County High School is proud to announce STAR Student and Teacher for the Class of 2024. Cecil Young, III, has been named STAR Student. He has selected as his STAR Teacher Mrs. Jami Welch.
Cecil Young, III, is the son of Daphne Young and Cecil Young, Jr. During high school, he has been a member of the varsity football, wrestling, and track teams and was selected as an All-Region and All-State kicker. His active club involvements include Senior Beta and FFA. Cecil has also been inducted into both Honor Society and the National Society of High School Scholars and will graduate with the distinctions of Honor Graduate and Scholars Academy Graduate. He was selected as a Senior Superlative for the Class of 2024 and as a Class Favorite by his peers: “Most Likely to Succeed.” He was also named a Presbyterian College Fellow and a Junior Usher. Cecil plans to attend college to study mechanical engineering with a minor in robotics. He has already been accepted to multiple schools, including the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and Kennesaw State University.
Cecil has selected Mrs. Jami Welch as his STAR teacher, stating, “Mrs. Welch is a great teacher who makes her material easy to understand and follow. She is always trying to make class entertaining with hands on material and simple explanations for even the most complex subjects. She is overall a great teacher, and I am proud to be giving her the STAR Teacher Award.”
Jami Welch has been teaching for 13 years, with most of those at Marion County High School. She graduated from Georgia Southwestern State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics with teacher certification. She also holds a Master of Science degree from GSW in Curriculum and Instruction. At MCHS, Mrs. Welch has taught Algebra I, Algebra II, and Physics, and she has helped to implement the school’s new Engineering pathway by teaching levels 1-3 of this program under Career and Technical Education. In addition to her course responsibilities, Mrs. Welch also sponsors both Student Council and Spirit Club. Her enthusiasm and compassion for students are evident in her daily interactions; Mrs. Welch is a champion for her students. Outside the classroom, Mrs. Welch enjoys spending time with her family: her husband, Josh, and their daughters Anna Leigh and Emma.
Mrs. Welch describes Cecil as: “one of the most innovative, persistent students I have taught. He is very gifted in Engineering and I can always count on him to come up with creative, fun ideas to solve problems. One of my favorite memories of Cecil in Engineering class is watching him build a custom robot with our VEX robot parts.”
The PAGE Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program is sponsored, administered, and promoted by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE) and the PAGE Foundation. Since its inception in 1958 the STAR program has honored nearly 29,500 students and the teachers selected as the most influential to their academic achievement. High school seniors must have the highest score on a single test date on the SAT and be in the top 10 percent or top 10 students of their class based on grade point average to qualify for STAR nomination. STAR begins each year in participating Georgia high schools when the STAR Student is named and chooses a STAR Teacher to share in this recognition. The students and their teachers are honored by their schools and receive special recognition in their communities from one of the more than 172 statewide civic organizations and businesses that serve as local sponsors of the STAR program. Students then compete for school system recognition as the top STAR Student, and those winners compete for region honors. Region winners contend for the honor of being named State PAGE STAR Student. STAR Teachers continue on with their STAR Students at every level of the program.
Marion County wishes to congratulate Cecil Young, III, and Mrs. Jami Welch on this great honor and to wish them luck at the Region 5 competition in March.