FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2023
PETAL, Miss. – Petal High School senior Laci Pitts has been named a STAR Student for the 2022-23 school year by the Mississippi Economic Council M.B. Swayze Foundation. The purpose of the Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program is to recognize outstanding students and teachers in Mississippi through its Education Celebration.
The program encourages and promotes academic achievement among Mississippi’s high school seniors. STAR students are selected based on academic excellence. Each STAR student is asked to designate a STAR Teacher – the teacher who has made the greatest contribution to the student’s scholastic achievement. Pitts selected Mrs. Kathryn Daniels as her STAR Teacher. Daniels teaches AP European History, AP Seminar and World History, and serves as chair of the department.
“Laci is remarkable, truly one in a million, and I am incredibly honored to have been chosen as her STAR teacher,” said Daniels. “As both her teacher for two years and program director for Distinguished Young Women, I can attest to her incredible character and leadership inside and outside of the classroom. Laci is such a compassionate, hardworking young woman, and this accolade is much deserved.”
“Getting to be Petal’s STAR Student is such an honor, and I’m so glad I get to represent the best district in the state,” said Pitts. “I could not have accomplished my academic goals without the help and support of the amazing teachers and administrators of the Petal School District.”
Pitts and Daniels will be honored April 13 during the annual Education Celebration at the Clyde Muse Center in Pearl, where the Top 20 STAR students and Mississippi ALL-STAR Scholar will be named. The top 20 STAR Students –The ALL-STAR Scholars – will receive scholarships and their STAR Teachers will receive awards provided by the Kelly Gene Cook, Sr. Charitable Foundation. The highlight of the Education Celebration will be the naming of the Mississippi ALL-STAR Scholar for the 2022-23 school year, winner of the coveted $24,000 Cook Foundation Scholarship.
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Laci Pitts, STAR Student
Kathryn Daniels, STAR Teacher
