Around the same time each year someone from the senior class is chosen as the year’s star student. This senior is almost always the quintessential super-student: perfect GPA, promising disposition, just the right extracurricular, and the highest overall SAT score, the latter criteria being the main requirement. This year’s student is Zeke Day. Day, as 2017 STAR student, is responsible for choosing the teacher of the year, which is one of the highest honors a NAHS teacher can receive. This year’s teacher of the year, selected by Day, is chemistry teacher Jeanne Hall.

Hall has been teaching at North Atlanta for 13 years and in that time she has left an undeniably positive impact on the school and its students. Her love for science and excitement for chemistry is contagious. “She’ll go the extra mile for her students. She really cares about us,” said Day.

Hall mixes up lessons in her classroom to keep her students on their toes. Fun, interactive labs are always a nice surprise, and she’ll demonstrate real chemical reactions right in front of her students’ eyes. “Ms. Hall has a super dynamic classroom- she does a lot of hands-on stuff and it makes learning tough concepts much easier,” he said.

Hall’s decision to become a teacher was rooted in her desire give back to the community. “I felt there was a shortage of good science teachers and I fell in love with North Atlanta when I was assigned this school for my student teaching,” she said.

She became certified in all areas of science and then completed a master’s degree in secondary science at Mercer University.

She said her selection by Day is something that she takes as recognition for all of her hard work to prepare her students. “This award is affirming,” she said. “As a teacher, there is so much hard work, expended energy and even heartache endured. So when something like this comes along it is nice to know that a student, particularly someone as noteworthy as Zeke, sees all of your sacrifice and acknowledges it.”

Her students aren’t the only ones that notice how amazing of a teacher she is. “She’s very dedicated and works really hard,” said geography teacher Eleanor Brookins. “She takes her job seriously and is really smart. I mean, really smart,” she said.

Obviously, there is no better candidate than Hall to receive the high honor of North Atlanta STAR Teacher 2017. We are very lucky, as a student body, to have her teaching us, and she is paving the way for higher education at North Atlanta High School. You rock, Ms. Hall!