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Long County honors STAR student
LongStarStudent
Jonathan Groover - photo by Photo by Mike Riddle
The Long County Chamber of Commerce honored this year’s STAR student and teacher during a Feb. 16 meeting.
The STAR Student Award was given to Long County High School senior Jonathan Groover, and the STAR Teacher Award went to Suzette Williamson, who was once Groover’s first-grade teacher.
Chamber education committee chairwoman Ann Parker gave Groover his certificate.
To be eligible for the STAR award, students must have a cumulative grade point average in the top 10 percent of the class and have the highest SAT score for a single testing date.
 Parker said Groover has been a student in the Long County School System for his entire career, and before he even STARted kindergarten, Groover was already reading. By the time Groover was in fifth grade, the presenter said, he was reading at a college level.
LCHS counselor Lacy Ricks said, “Jonathon is a very talented student. All I can say is good things about him. I know that he will be a success, and will make Long County proud in whatever he sets out to do.”
Groover is the son of Jamie and Phillip Groover.
Williamson, once a Long County elementary school teacher, now teaches in the Wayne County School System. She said, “When they said Jonathon Groover (won the STAR Student Award), I knew exactly who he was. I could picture him in first grade, and I also could picture his mom and dad.”
She added, “He had a wonderful support system in school, and all the credit (for this award) goes to his mom and daddy.”
Williamson has been in the education field for 17 years. Her first nine were spent in Long County. She’s been with Wayne County for eight.
The STAR Student and Teacher Awards have been sponsored by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators for 52 years.
Miriam Murray and Peggy Nobles are also on the chamber’s education committee.
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