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THURSDAY. MARCH 16. 2017 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 13A
The brightest STARs shine at yearly banquet
The past meets the present. Pickens County 2000 STAR
Student, Carrie McCurdy, and this year’s STAR Student
and Teacher, Jonathan Friedman and Wil Nix.
By Larry Cavender
Contributing Writer
“I have spent 11 years in
this system and throughout
the time I’ve been here, I
have met many amazing peo
ple.” Those comments were
in remarks made by Pickens
County’s 2017 STAR Stu
dent, Jonathan Friedman, at
the STAR Banquet held
Thursday at the Appalachian
Campus of Chattahoochee
Technical College.
Friedman continued, “I
have found that teachers have
become a part of my life in
the best way possible. They
have prepared me for every
thing that I have done to this
point and have prepared me
for everything to come.”
Jonathan, the son of Patti
and Aury Friedman, plans to
attend Northwestern Univer
sity and study engineering
beginning in the fall of 2017.
He chose as his STAR
Teacher Wil Nix who has
taught at Pickens High
School for eleven years and
currently serves as the Eng
lish Department Chair.
In his remarks at the ban
quet, Friedman praised Nix
saying, “I have had many
amazing teachers, but when it
came down it, I had to choose
one to be my STAR Teacher
and for that, I chose Mr. Nix.
I chose him because, from
the moment I met him, he be
lieved in me. He helped me
both inside the classroom and
outside of it... .He is not just
a mentor of mine, but he has
become a friend.”
Nix had high praise for
Friedman, but also used his
remarks to commend his
teaching colleagues, “We do
a good job at Pickens High
School of taking good care of
making the students great.
Every one of the teachers
here do a wonderful job at
that.”
The other nine STAR fi
nalists and their respective
STAR Teachers who were
honored at the banquet in
clude, Kyle Combs and An
gela Quarles; Laura Henke
and Lisa Hardman; Michael
Jorgensen and Rodney Mar
tin; Jackson Melton and Va
lerie Boehm; Danielle O’Dell
and Lynn Cantrell; Sierra
Stanfield and Seana Thomp
son; Roman Tapia and Rob
bie Cheatham; Kelsey Wise
and Gail Culbreth; and Mary
Zuidema and Cheryl Carter.
Former Pickens STAR
Student, Carrie McCurdy,
Carrie McCurdy, 2000
Pickens STAR Student, Sen
ior Assistant DA for DeKalb
County, and the banquet’s
featured speaker, urged the
STAR Students to “to grow
and expand your definition
of success. ”
was the featured speaker at
the banquet. McCurdy works
in the DeKalb County Dis
trict Attorney’s Office serv
ing as the Senior ADA
prosecuting all homicides
and serious felony cases in
one of the ten Superior Court
Divisions in DeKalb County.
The daughter of Dr. Carl and
Melanie McCurdy of Jasper,
she graduated from Agnes
Scott College and the Emory
In remarks delivered at
the banquet, 2017 Pickens
County STAR Student
Jonathan Friedman said of
his teachers, “They have
prepared me for everything
that I have done...and
everything to come. ”
School of Law.
Noting McCurdy was also
a Pickens STAR Student in
2000, Reeder Burch, Chair
man of the Optimist Club
STAR Program, said once
you are a STAR Student you
are always a STAR Student.
Of McCurdy, he added, “She
is a member of this august
fraternity and sorority.”
In her speech, McCurdy
told the STAR Students of
her own experience saying,
“I was where you are in the
immediate and smaller
sense.. .but I was also where
you are in a much larger
sense. I was soon to be leav
ing my lifelong academic ca
reer in Pickens County and
preparing to launch myself
from out of the safety of
these mountains and out into
the rest of the great big
world.”
She continued, “You’re
going to have teachers you
don’t expect... who don’t
stand in front of a classroom
and lecture. I encourage you
to welcome these people into
your life.”
McCurdy congratulated
the STAR Students and in
vited them to “grow and ex
pand your definition of
success” and “leave the
world a better place.”
STAR is an acronym for
the Student Teacher Recogni
tion Program and is spon
sored locally each year by the
Optimist Club of Jasper.
Jasper Lions learn about guide dogs
Forest Glen Apartments
504 Indian Forest Rd.
Jasper, GA 30143
706-692-5355
On March 9 the Jasper
Lions Club met with Lion
President Ken Austin presid
ing.
he District 18-L Chairman
of Southeastern Guide Dogs,
Lion Peggie Chapman, pre
sented our program.
Southeastern Guide Dogs
was founded 35 years ago in
1982. They provide profes
sionally trained dogs at no
charge to visually impaired
individuals and veterans. Lo
cated in Palmetto, Florida,
they have placed more than
100 dogs every year. 1,000
volunteers, 250 puppy rais
ers, 4 to 6 months of profes
sional training and a 26 day
training program for qualify
ing individuals make this
possible. Dogs who don’t
make the cut for guiding the ans or children. They may
blind may become compan- also go into public service
ion or therapy dogs for veter- doing bomb or drug detection
Lion President Ken Austin and Peggie Chapman.
Pickens residents rally for ACA
Members of Appalachian Indivisible, a local group with a mission to “resist Trump’s
agenda, ” attended a rally in Gainesville last week.
Submitted by Appalachian
Indivisible
Some 100 persons from
across the 9th Congressional
District gathered at U.S. Rep
resentative Doug Collins' Of
fice in Gainesville on
Monday, March 6, 2017. The
counties of Hall, Habersham,
Pickens, Lumpkin, Forsyth,
and Gilmer had noted partic
ipants. While many concerns
were voiced in continuous
cheers from the persons gath
ered over an hour’s time, a
main emphasis was keeping
and improving the Affordable
Care Act (ACA).
Members of Appalachian
Indivisible were present at
the rally. Appalachian Indi
visible consists of residents
in Pickens, Gilmer, Dawson
and other north Georgia
counties. Their mission is "to
agree to resist Trump's
agenda, focus on local, de
fensive congressional advo
cacy, and embrace
progressive values."
Three representatives
from Gilmer met personally
with Rep. Collins during that
hour. One of those was a
young woman whose very
life is dependent on the re
sources she receives through
the ACA. The Congressman
was asked when he would
hold a town hall meeting and
he was noncommittal, due to
a busy schedule and said it
would be summer before he
would be available. He is
currently relying on tele
phone meetings with limited
access and limited communi
cations that also require con
stituents be invited.
Demonstrators gathered
on both sides of Washington
Street in front of the office to
chant "Meet with us" and
"Make an Effort, Rather
Than an Excuse." Many
persons driving through
honked their horns in sup
port.
Contact Appalachian Indi
visible at Appalachianlndi-
visible@gmail.com.
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Peggie told us that if you
come in contact with a per
son with a guide dog wearing
a vest, you should NOT pet
them or try to play with them
in any way. They are working
and should not be distracted.
You should NOT offer assis
tance to the person with the
dog without asking permis
sion. They want to be as in
dependent as possible.
We thank Peggie Chap
man for a very informative
program.
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Travis Jones, DPM
Jimmy Jiang, MD
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Brian E. Seng, DO Matthew Simmons, MD