Ha Dang is Runner-Up at State STAR Competition

The Georgia State STAR Student Competition and Banquet was held in Atlanta on Monday, April 27. Twenty-eight regional STAR winners (15 of whom had perfect 2400 SAT scores) assembled at the Crowne Plaza for a day of interviews by the leaders of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE) to determine the state winner and runner-up.

That evening at the banquet, each of these outstanding students was interviewed once again by WSB-TV's Jeff Dore. Over half of the students, who came from both public and private schools, expressed a desire to study biomedical engineering in college.

When asked why she planned to take that route at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Darlington senior Ha Dang expressed her goal of using her abilities in science and math to help others. 

While working on her grandparents’ farm during the summer in Vietnam, she had witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of serious injuries on farmworkers and the loss of income for their families when they could no longer work. She was passionate in describing her commitment to helping those who have few resources for improving their lives. The audience erupted into spontaneous applause as she spoke.

Ha’s words echoed the values of Darlington’s motto of "wisdom more than knowledge, service beyond self, honor above everything" beautifully!  

By the close of the ceremony, Ha had received the first runner-up award and a $2,000 scholarship given by PAGE and The Coca-Cola Company, and her teacher received a $1,000 award from the Mozelle Christian Endowment and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.