2025 County STARS (East Coweta, Northgate and Heritage)
This year’s Coweta County STAR Student honors resulted in a three-way tie to represent the county as top student.
Seniors Gabriel Lyannis, of East Coweta High School, Alexis Wingenbach, of Northgate High, and Gavin Miles, of the Heritage School, were all named county STAR Students, from among a field of six high school STARS honored Wednesday.
All six STAR Students were recognized along with their 2025 STAR Teachers and their public and private high schools, at the Newnan Rotary Club’s annual luncheon on Wednesday. The ceremony was held at the Nixon Centre for Performing and Visual Arts.
Wingenbach, Miles and Lyannis will stand for regional honors at the March STAR Region 3B banquet, also held at the Nixon Centre for Performing and Visual Arts in Newnan.
The annual county luncheon was hosted by the Newnan Rotary Club on February 5. STAR Students from the Heritage School, East Coweta High School, Central Christian School, Newnan High School, Northgate High School, and Trinity Christian School were all recognized at the event, along with their chosen STAR Teachers, parents and school representatives.
This year’s six STAR Students and Teachers from Coweta County’s six participating schools were:
- East Coweta High School STAR Student Gabriel Lyannas, and STAR Teacher Eric Prince (AP US History)
- Central Christian School STAR Student Tristan Ferry and STAR Teacher Kelsea Krisle (Economics)
- The Heritage School STAR Student Gavin Miles and STAR Teacher Dorothy Rich (AP Calculus)
- Northgate High School STAR Student Alexis Wingenbach and STAR Teacher Julee Vansant (AP Statistics and Advanced Algebra)
- Trinity Christian School STAR Student Helene Lawson and STAR Teacher Christy Faircloth (AP Biology)
- Newnan High School STAR Student Aidan Crawford and STAR Teacher Josh Boyd (Band Director)
It was Boyd’s 2nd time in as many years to be named Newnan High School’s STAR teacher. It was Rich’s 5th time to be named Heritage’s STAR Teacher.
The Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) Program honors top academic students in Georgia high schools each year at the school, county, regional and state levels. To be named STAR, senior class students must have the highest score in their school in one sitting on the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) taken through the November test date of their senior year. They must also be in the top 10 percent or top 10 students of their class based on grade point average.
STAR students are asked to honor the educator who most influenced their academic achievement by naming them as their STAR Teacher. All five STAR teachers introduced the Rotary members to their students at Friday’s program, citing their scholarship, high character, and their extracurricular and civic accomplishments.
The Newnan Rotary Club serves as the local sponsor for the statewide STAR program, which recognizes top-achieving high school students each year. STAR Teachers introduced their students at the Friday program, and STAR students described why their teacher had the greatest influence on their academic careers. Rotarians were joined by the STAR’s parents, principals or school heads and other school representatives.
The STAR Program is organized by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, Georgia Chamber of Commerce and Georgia Department of Education. The Newnan Rotary Club hosts the STAR program locally.
