Riverwood STAR Student Michael Cohen &
Dr. Phillip Nissen, STAR Teacher

Riverwood International Charter School senior Michael Cohen (right) has been recognized as a STAR student by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators based on receiving the highest SAT score at the school, as well as for academic excellence, extracurricular activities and community service.

For his STAR teacher Michael has selected his AP Calculus teacher, Phillip Nissen. “I really enjoyed Dr. Nissen’s class my junior year.  He’s a fun guy to be around, talking about English soccer, and some of the exotic places he’s taught.  I really appreciate the fact that Dr. Nissen pushes students to discover things on their own -- he definitely doesn’t spoon feed.”

Michael is a National Merit Semi-Finalist, received the Harvard Book Award, the University of Georgia Certificate of Merit, and was Outstanding student in Honors Chemistry.  He wrote for the school newspaper, and is involved in competitive sailing at Lake Allatoona with the Atlanta Yacht Club.

Michael plans to attend the University of Texas, University of Pennsylvania or University of Virginia to study finance.