Darlington senior Yixin "Linda" Pan has been named the 2025 Darlington STAR Student. Pan selected Science Department Head Owen Kinney as her STAR Teacher. At the local banquet on Feb. 14, Pan was recognized as one of two System STAR Students, and will be recognized at the district banquet on March 25.
Pan has taken 18 AP and Honors courses, and is a member of the National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, and the Darlington Robotics Team. She serves as the head dorm prefect of Cooper House and is a co-founder of the Asian Student Union. Pan previously served as a class representative on Student Council from her freshman to junior year. As a junior, she was awarded the Rensselaer Medal and the St. Lawrence Book Award. Pan is the daughter of Mr. Jianbing Pan and Mrs. Shumei Wei of Shandong, China.
"Linda advanced to a lead mentor position on our robotics team by the end of her freshman year," said Kinney. "She excels at all kinds of problem solving, embracing every challenge I put in front of her with a smile on her face."
Kinney has taught science at the Upper School since 1999, and he currently serves as head of the science department. He holds a B.S. in biology from Berry College and an M.S. in ecology from the University of Georgia. Owen has also led the robotics program and directed STEM summer camps at Darlington for over 20 years.
"Mr. Kinney encouraged me to think creatively in robotics and taught me that it’s okay to fail as along as I keep trying and learn from the experience," said Pan. "Beyond robotics, Mr. Kinney taught me to stay curious about the incredible details of the world around me in his Nature Nuts iPeriod. In AP Environmental Science, he brought the subject to life with fascinating stories that made every class engaging and fun."
Locally, the STAR Students and their selected STAR Teachers are honored by their schools and recognized by the Rome Floyd Chamber, which serves as the local sponsor of the STAR program. Students then compete for local school system titles, and those winners move on to compete for regional honors.
The PAGE Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program, now in its 66th year, is sponsored, administered and promoted by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE). Since its creation by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce in 1958, the STAR program has honored nearly 30,000 students and the teachers selected as the most influential to their academic achievement. To obtain the 2022 STAR nomination, high school seniors must have the highest score on a single test date on the SAT and be in the top 10 percent or top 10 students of their class based on grade point average.
