STAR is winner at region

Columbia County's 2006 STAR student, Kaitlyn Frazier, of Augusta Prep, was named Region 7 STAR student at the 2006 STAR Student Awards Banquet on March 23 in the banquet hall of First Baptist Church in Thomson.

The Student-Teacher Achievement Recognition title is awarded annually to students who score the highest on the SAT and who are in the top 10 percent of their classes. Student choose teachers they feel have been their biggest influences.

Kaitlyn, a senior at Augusta Preparatory Day School, scored 2,360 points out of a possible 2,400, earning her the region title over STAR students from 12 counties: Burke, Glascock, Hancock, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lincoln, McDuffie, Richmond, Warren, Washington and Wilkes.

Kaitlyn is Prep's third region STAR winner in the past six years, said Jack Hall, the head of the school.

Kaitlyn said she took the SAT only once. After receiving her score, Hall said he repeatedly urged Kaitlyn to take the test again, because he knew she could make a perfect score. Kaitlyn said she didn't want to take it again because it was "boring to sit and take a test for such a long time."

After the banquet, Kaitlyn triumphantly told Hall, "See, it didn't matter that I didn't take it again."

"She finally won that argument," Hall said with a laugh.

Kaitlyn chose her calculus teacher, Timothy Shafer, as her STAR teacher. During the Region 7 program, each recognized student and teacher gave a short speech. Kaitlyn thanked Shafer for beginning each class with a challenging puzzle.

Shafer returned the honor in his remarks.

"Kaitlyn, I want to thank you for the honor of being your STAR teacher. In particular, I want to thank you for being on our math team," he said, bringing laughter from the audience. "Seriously, I thank God for your ability to process information, for your integrity and your desire to help others."

Shafer said Kaitlyn was a junior when she took his Advanced Placement calculus class, which is normally taken by seniors. As a senior, she is in his Calculus B class that is made up of four students who have finished the AP class and want to continue their math studies.

Kaitlyn was home-schooled until she was in eighth grade. Her mother, Mimi Frazier, said home schooling provided "the perfect balance" for Kaitlyn's education. When Kaitlyn began taking algebra in eighth grade, Frazier said, she noticed her daughter figuring out the answers to problems in her head without working out the steps in between. It was then, she said, they decided home schooling no longer met Kaitlyn's needs, so they enrolled her at Augusta Prep.

"We just get out of her way. She has the internal motivation and drive, and we just facilitate the things she wants to do," said her father, Kevin Frazier, who is a professor at the Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry. "I'm really jealous of her. I wasn't anywhere close to her level until I was way into college."

Kaitlyn said she did not do anything to prepare for the SAT. She credits her success to her love of reading. Her mother said Kaitlyn read Pride and Prejudice when she was in first grade.

Kaitlyn has been offered scholarships at both the University of Georgia and the Georgia Institute of Technology. She said she plans to study biomedical engineering, but has not decided on a college.

Kaitlyn will represent Area 7 in the contest for the state STAR title, which will be announced April 26 at a banquet at the Sheraton Buckhead Hotel in Atlanta.