Tallulah Falls School has announced the 2021 STAR Student and Teacher for Tallulah Falls School. They are senior Pengyue “Peter” Wang and history teacher Adam Greiving. This year’s announcement arrives a little later because of the pandemic, and the honoree is being honored virtually.
Wang, of Tianjin, China, earned the highest score on the SAT and is currently in the top five percent of this year’s graduating class. He is learning remotely due to travel restrictions in his home country of China. Wang selected Greiving, of Clarkesville, as STAR teacher.
According to Wang, Greiving was instrumental in supporting his academic ambition.
“I appreciate this recognition of my hard work on academics and Mr. Greiving’s support,” Wang said. “Mr. Greiving has pointed out to me history is a fantastic area for me to major in, and this enlightenment directly helped to ease my pressure when my SAT test was only weeks away. Mr. Greiving is a passionate expert on history and a great mentor to me, and he has made a profound impact on my future college career.”
Greiving’s admiration for the high-achieving student is evident, but he has missed the personal interaction prevented by the pandemic.
“In my five years at TFS, Pengyue is one of the best history students I’ve taught. He is naturally curious and reads widely. He has an innate inquisitiveness and determination to find answers that have nothing to do with his teacher,” Greiving said. “Students who bring both thoughtful questions to a class and provide substantive answers in response are rare. Additionally impressive is that as a Chinese student, Pengyue’s command and mastery of the English language in both reading and speaking are without parallel.”
A four-year Presidential Scholar while at TFS, Wang has maximized the TFS experience, earning high marks in his academic classes and cultivating leadership skills as the manager for the cross country team and as a peer tutor. Additionally, he was a member of the TFS tennis team for several seasons and served as an analyst for the school’s robotics team.
This past summer, Wang attended the Yale Young Global Scholars program, described as a “selective academic and leadership program that fosters intellectual curiosity, deepens understanding and inspires creative action across all borders.”
Other academic activities include membership in the National Honor Society and several global summer enrichment programs. He also published a paper through an independent study in history and English through Washington & Lee University.
The Student-Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program honors Georgia’s highest-achieving high school seniors and the teachers who have been most instrumental in their academic development, according to the PAGE (Professional Association of Georgia Educators) Foundation.
The Rotary Club of Habersham County will host the county’s STAR Students and Teachers on April 15. The STAR Student for the county will be announced at that event.
