GHS Class of 2025 Star Student Wojie Zhong

GHS senior Wojie Zhong has been named Grenada’s STAR Student for the 2024-25 school year by the M.B. Swayze Foundation, sponsor of the Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program.

The state’s most prestigious educational recognition program, STAR rewards seniors with the highest ACT scores in their class. The program selects one student from each of Mississippi’s 300+ public, private, and parochial schools.

The STAR program asks each student to designate a teacher who has made the greatest contribution to their scholastic achievement. Wojie qualified for the honor with an ACT composite score of 35–taken in one sitting–and he credits English and Language Arts (ELA) teacher Mrs. Melanie Hopper for helping him achieve such a high mark.

Mrs. Hopper has the distinction of being designated the STAR Teacher for the second year in a row. The pair declined to attend the awards ceremony because of Wojie’s other commitments. Since his sophomore year, Wojie has been responsible for picking up his brother from school every day and driving to work at his family restaurant in Water Valley each afternoon.

Wojie’s work ethic and perseverance have earned him a scholarship to attend the University of Indiana at Bloomington in the fall. The future Hoosier hopes to pursue a career in finance at IU’s nationally ranked Kelley School of Business, obtain an M.B.A., and move to Chicago to start work as a consultant.

Grenada’s curriculum does not always transfer to an out-of-state school, but Wojie was aware of this and opted not to participate in certain programs like GHS’s Middle College collaboration with Holmes Community College. Instead he took certain dual credit courses that piqued his interests. He will receive credit for Comp 1, and will be able to test out of certain math courses.

Wojie’s dreams of attending a prestigious business school would not have been possible without his parents diligently saving for him to go to college. Wojie is the son of Zhenhui Zhong and Angela Lu, proprietors of Chopsticks in Water Valley. The Zhong’s live in Grenada.

The Zhong family has supported Wojie’s interests throughout high school, allowing him to learn about the financial markets by trading stocks at home with his father. When he turned 18, Wojie opened a brokerage account in his name and now trades on his own. Wojie noted that he, “was doing very well until this year,” and with a grin. He’s already got enough financial savvy to steer clear of the markets while they are volatile.

Wojie attended school in Grenada for 11 of his 12 years, noting that a year of 3rd grade in Rhode Island wasn’t nearly as nice as Grenada’s elementary school, and he was happy when they moved back to Grenada. Now that he’s moving on, Wojie is prepared for life a little further north where “summers aren’t so hot.”