Niley Craven, daughter of Chris and Angela Craven, was named STAR Student for the 2016-2017 school year by the Mississippi Economic Council (MEC) M.B. Swayze Foundation, sponsor of the Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program.
The Newton County Academy senior was honored during the annual Education Celebration on April 27 at the Jackson Convention Complex in downtown Jackson. STAR students are selected on the basis of academic excellence. Both American College Test scores and scholastic averages are compared to determine the schools STAR Student.
Craven has received a host of awards at NCA, including the English award ninth,11th and 12th grade, history, Biology, and Keyboarding her 10th grade year, Advanced Biology and American History her Junior year, Sociology, Economics and A&P her Senior Year.
She was awarded the Junior High Citizenship and the High School Citizenship award. Craven was also Valedictorian of her senior class. She was in the Honor Society for four years. She is attending East Central Community College majoring in Liberal Arts.
Each STAR student is asked to designate a STAR teacher, the teacher who has made the greatest contribution to the students’ scholastic achievement. Craven selected Mrs Rhonda Evans as her STAR teacher.
Evans has been a business/ technology instructor for 25 years. She attended Jones Junior College and received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Mississippi State University. Evans served on the MS FBLA State Board of Directors as a state officer advisor for four years and was classroom FBLA advisor for 16 years. She was named “Teacher of the Year” by her colleagues in 2004 and 2012.
Evans has been a business/ technology instructor for 25 years. She attended Jones County Junior College and received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Mississippi State University. Mrs. Evans served on the MS FBLA State Board of Directors as a state officer advisor for four years and was a classroom FBLA advisor for 16 years.
In 2014, she was selected to spend a week in New York City on Wall Street at the New York Stock Exchange Euronext Program for Finance and Global Business Teachers. Upon completion of this program, she received graduate credit from St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, New York. Rhonda has been an ACT administrator for 15 years at East Central Community College. She was named “Teacher of the Year” by her colleagues in 2004 and 2012.
Her professional memberships include Phi Beta Lambda, charter member of Gamma Iota Sigma (MSU chapter) and the National Association of Professional Women.
