Riverwood International Charter School named Hannah Tourial as its 2021-22 STAR Student.
High school seniors must have the highest score on a single test date on the 1600-point scale SAT and be in the top 10 percent, or top 10 students, of their class based on grade point average to gain Student Teacher Achievement Recognition.
Tourial chose Math faculty member Rod Schopke as her STAR Teacher, the school announced.
“Mr. Schopke has really supported me these past few years both in class and in my extracurriculars. I have always liked math, but he helped me really fall in love with it,” Tourial said. “Honestly, it would have been hard not to with a teacher as passionate as Mr. Schopke. He inspires me to persevere at math in the future no matter how difficult it becomes.”
Schopke teaches Tourial in IB Math and said he has known her for four years. He called her incredible as a student and person. He first got to know her working with the band when she was a freshman.
“When I look back and think of Hannah four years ago and the college bound Hannah that sits in my IB Math class now, I cannot help but be blown away at how much she has grown,” Schopke said. “She is always there to help a friend in need and has a perpetual curiosity that I adore.”
Through her passion for learning, Tourial has gained a mathematical mind that rivals any student he has taught, he said.
“It has been an honor to play a small part in her education, and I cannot wait to see the heights she reaches with her life,” he said.
Among her accolades, Tourial is a National Merit semifinalist, an AP Scholar with Distinction, a member of the National Honor Society, and a Georgia Certificate of Merit recipient.
She hopes to either major in math at Georgia Institute of Technology or finance at the University of Pennsylvania.
Tourial has been a member of the Riverwood Marching Band since 2018; its wind captain since 2019 and its social media manager since 2020. She plays in Riverwood’s Pit Band, Jazz Band, and formerly the Metropolitan Atlanta Youth Wind Ensemble. Tourial is a Student Government Association (SGA) representative, a member of the Jewish Student Union, Beta Club and the math team. She is also president of Riverwood’s Gender-Sexuality Alliance.
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