STAR Student is an award given to the student who scored the highest on the SAT, The STAR teacher is someone who the STAR student chooses. The STAR Student for this year is Amelia Dyar, she is a senior here at Mill Creek High School. Dyar had chosen Mrs. Leonard to be the STAR teacher of the year. Mrs. Leonard is a math teacher in the EPIC program. Dyar is an amazing student overall and has worked hard to be a STAR Student.
Dyar worked hard in preparation for the SATs and used several different methods for different years. “The first time I took it I started with Khan Academy, the second time I did an SAT prep course, but the third time I just relaxed. I knew that I knew all the stuff on it so I just relaxed and prepared.” She found that relaxing and having faith in her ability helped the most. Relaxing helps Dyar focus on trying her best and referring to the knowledge she gained in her past years of hard work.
Winning the STAR Student award came as a surprise to Dyar, but she is still extremely grateful. “It meant a lot because I got to pick Mrs. Leonard as my STAR Teacher.” Although she picked Mrs. Leonard, Dyar is thankful for all her teachers in the past, and claims they all played a big part in getting her where she is today. “They’re the ones that taught me everything I needed to know for it. I thought back to things Mrs. Chapman told me about language arts and things that both Mrs. Leonard and Mrs. Jackson had said for math.” Dyar has a lot of people who she is grateful for, as well as herself for being able to just relax and acknowledge her abilities.
Mrs. Leonard has been teaching Dyar since freshman year. She has been extremely proud and honored that Dyar has been chosen as a STAR Student and chose her to be a STAR Teacher. Mrs. Leonards’ and Dyars’ relationship has started ever since she was a freshman. According to Mrs. Leonard, “Amelia and I started growing our relationship when she was a freshman here, and I taught her freshman year. I feel like Amelia and I have very similar personalities in that we’re both curious about math, she likes to dig deeper into math so I would challenge her to think about it differently, and she took that and ran with it,” Mrs. Leonard and Dyars’ relationship continues to this day, “Even today, Amelia will come in every morning and say hi to me, play with my Rubik’s Cubes. We’ve been able to make this connection through math that has continued to grow over the four years that she’s been here.” Dyar has impacted Mrs. Leonard just as much as Mrs. Leonard impacted her.
In the past years, Mrs. Leonard and Dyar have been growing their relationship. Mrs. Leonard is very honored that Dyar has chosen her to be the STAR Teacher. “I am very honored to be selected as the STAR teacher. I think what makes the STAR teacher something very special is that it is a student who chose them, so it’s not another staff, it’s not something that comes from test scores. I know I’ve made an impact on that student if they’re willing to name me as their STAR teacher.” Mrs. Leonard is amazed by Dyar and her accomplishments, “I am so proud of her. She is so deserving. I can not think of another senior who has put in the effort and work that she has.”
Dyar has worked very hard to get to where she is today and knows that all of her teachers have impacted her for the better. However, she believes Mrs. Leonard has influenced her the most because of their deep connection. Dyar still strives to become the best she can be.
