[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 78 (Tuesday, May 13, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING DAVEY HUNT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. LYNN A. WESTMORELAND

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 13, 2008

  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Davey Hunt, 
the 2008 Heard County High School STAR student.
  In Georgia, Madam Speaker, the Student Teacher Achievement 
Recognition program honors the top senior in each of the State's 400 
high schools and a teacher chosen by that student.
  For Davey, the STAR student award squeezes in one more line to a 
resume already teeming with superlatives.
  ``Davey is simply the most brilliant student I have ever had the 
honor to teach,'' said Paul Mixon, the Heard County High educator whom 
Davey named as STAR Teacher. ``His academic performance and mastery of 
complex material highlights an intellect that is both creative and 
constantly expanding. Davey demands that his teachers go beyond the 
basic concept of each course, as he quickly becomes an expert in each 
subject. Unlike so many of his generation, Davey is excited about 
learning.''
  Academic excellence and intellectual curiosity came early to Davey. 
After fifth grade, he attended Junior University summer camp where he 
had to build a bridge out of toothpicks. In what appears to be one of 
his few life lessons in disappointment, Davey's bridge didn't win the 
competition for holding the most weight without breaking. Nevertheless, 
a long-held fascination with design and construction took root.
  Davey graduated over the years from toothpick engineering to 
aeronautical engineering, which he will study at the Nation's 
preeminent engineering school, the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology.
  In addition to winning the STAR student award, Davey will reign as 
the valedictorian of Heard County's Class of 2008 and he received the 
Georgia Certificate of Merit, which goes to the State's best and 
brightest high school students.
  Davey's record of academic excellence could stand alone, but his 
record shows him to be much more than a one-dimensional whiz kid. He 
served as editor of his school newspaper, The Warcry, won the 2007 Most 
Valuable Player Award for the track team, and made the 2007 All-Region 
Football Team and the 2007 All-State Academic Football Team.
  Of course, a good high school experience isn't all work. He earned 
the friendship of his peers not with his good grades and athletic 
prowess, but with what his teacher Paul Mixon called his ``warmth and 
wit.'' Those qualities led his classmates to tap him for homecoming 
king and Mr. Heard High.
  Madam Speaker, the future of our Nation rests on the shoulders of 
today's young leaders. I'm proud that one of those young leaders, Davey 
Hunt, hails from Georgia's 3rd Congressional District. I pay tribute 
today to his outstanding record of achievements and wish him continued 
success as he begins the next phase of his life.




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