Kate Lattner, 18, is the valedictorian of Trinity Christian School’s Class of 2021.  She’s the daughter of David and Lori Lattner of Statesboro.

The youngest of the family, she has three older brothers: Will and twin brothers, Ben and Seth, who are seniors at the University of Georgia. Will was also valedictorian of his graduating class at Trinity, and Ben was salutatorian, behind his wife, Jackie Lee Lattner.

Kate also plans to attend the University of Georgia and major in Communication Sciences and Disorders.  A degree program within the University’s Mary Frances Early College of Education, it prepares students for future graduate degrees in speech pathology, speech therapy and other related fields.

“My vision at the moment is to become a speech therapist,” Kate said.  “I’ll complete the undergraduate degree and then attend graduate school to become a therapist. I originally wanted to be a kindergarten teacher, but I began volunteering with our school’s speech therapist and helping a younger student.”

The volunteer experience led Kate to realize that she really enjoyed working one-one-one with children.  She also likes the idea of being able to move along with children and stay connected to their learning as they advance in grade levels.  She’s gained additional experience by job shadowing speech professionals at The Therapy Spot in Statesboro.

Kate has attended Trinity since kindergarten.  She’s enjoyed attending school in one, small-school environment where her mother is the school secretary, and her father is the headmaster.

“It was nice, especially because I could get them to sign things for me if I forgot.  It also gave me a behind-the-scenes look at the school and made me more appreciate what goes into running a school,” she said. 

There are just seven students in Kate’s graduating class, most of whom she’s been with since kindergarten. 

“I’ve made such good friends. Now we are all going to different schools and doing our own things after graduation, but it’s going to be very exciting to start fresh and make some new friends,” she said. 

Kate is looking forward to football Saturdays in Athens, and being part of faith-based organizations on campus, like the Reformed University Fellowship, which is a student campus ministry affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America that serves 172 campuses worldwide.

While at Trinity, Kate has been active in the school’s math, cross country and soccer teams.  She was also named as the school’s STAR student.  She represented Trinity in the Bulloch County STAR competition where a local winner is selected from amongst the county’s five participating public and private high schools.

Sponsored at the state level by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators Foundation, STAR recognizes students at the school, county, region and state levels who score the highest score on any single administration of College Board’s Scholastic Aptitude Test , have a score that is equal to or higher than the SAT’s national average of scores for both its math and reading/writing sections, and at the end of the junior year of high school, be in either the top 10 percent or be among the top 10 students in their graduating class whichever category provides the largest number of eligible students.

Each STAR student also selects a STAR teacher, which is an educator from any level of their school career whom they believe was an academic or personal mentor.  Kate selected Donna McKenna.

“She is the smartest woman I know,” Kate said during remarks prepared for the local STAR competition. “During her time at Trinity, she has taught me geometry, honors chemistry, Advanced Placement (AP) chemistry, AP calculus and AP physics. The classes she teaches give insight into how talented she is, but there is so much more than that. Mrs. McKenna is truly a Renaissance woman: she's written cookbooks, hiked sections of the Appalachian Trail, owns a farm, and is capable of anything she puts her mind to. I am so grateful that I've had the opportunity to be her student and would be honored to become even half of the woman she is.”

In her prepared remarks for Bulloch County’s STAR event, McKenna said, “I have known Kate and her family since she was born. She is a diligent student and takes the most challenging classes our school has to offer. She also likes math and math-related science, so since I share that trait and teach the AP math and sciences, we have a bond. I love teaching her these subjects and she excelled in them.”