EDUCATION
Evan McGalliard is the Jones County High School STAR Student for 2024. McGalliard chose Morgan Jarvis, a teacher at the Jones County High School, as the STAR Teacher for 2024.
The Jones County Kiwanis Club sponsors the program and honored McGalliard and Jarvis at their meeting Feb. 19 at First Baptist Church of Gray.
McGalliard said his teachers pushed him all throughout high school to learn as much as he could, and he gives them a lot of credit for that.
“I knew I had a decently high score on my SATs. I was pretty confident I was the STAR student, but it was reassuring to know I got it when they finally told me,” he said. “I was very excited to learn I was the STAR student this year. I was pretty nervous until I found out for sure.”
To be eligible for STAR Student, a student has to be a senior and achieve the highest SAT score at their school. The STAR Teacher is selected on an academic contribution the teacher has made to the student, according to pageinc.org.
The STAR student said once he graduates high school, he plans on studying aerospace engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He said he plans to pursue a doctorate degree after that, and he hopes to one day work for NASA.
“I’ve always had this passion for space. When I was much younger my mom took me to see the very last space shuttle launch in 2011. Since then, it’s been something I really love,” McGalliard said.
He said his parents are very proud of him for achieving STAR student. He said Morgan Jarvis, who he chose as his STAR teacher, is his FBLA advisor. He said Jarvis has always pushed him in school to achieve the most.
“He’s not just dedicated to my grades in school, but who I am as a person,” McGalliard said. “He pushed me to do public speaking, which I did not want to do at all. Signing up for FBLA and doing public speaking has helped me develop more as a person.”
Jarvis said he wasn’t surprised that McGalliard is the STAR student this year, because he’s incredibly smart. He said he was shocked when McGalliard picked him as the STAR teacher, since he’s only taught him for three years.
“Evan is brilliant, and he has all of these other components to him. He’s a strong leader, and he’s the president of the FBLA chapter at the high school. It’s grown thanks to him. He’s very dependable and reliable,” he said.
The STAR teacher said he teaches McGalliard programming on top of being his FBLA advisor at the Jones County High School. He said he sees McGalliard being successful in whatever he chooses to do in life.
“He loves Legos, and his eyes will just brighten up if you can get him to talk about Legos. He is an engineer at heart,” Jarvis said. “I certainly hope the skills he gets from my classroom will help him in his future. We are all very proud of Evan.”
