Nearly three scores of students added STAR power to the Manteca Unified Board of Education meeting on Tuesday. Some even shone twice as bright.

The 52 pupils – plus a handful who are already in high school – constituted the first group of the district’s “best and brightest students” who were presented recognition certificates for achieving perfect scores of 600 in last school year’s STAR testing.

Fifty-three more perfect-score students will be similarly honored by the district at the November meeting of the board.

Cheryl Meeker, MUSD’s senior director of elementary education, happily noted the large number of families with “multiple” perfect score achievers this year and that she has “never seen this many” in previous years.

She also noted that 26 of the 105 students with perfect STAR scores have made this achievement more than one year. Additionally, there were a few students who posted perfect scores not just on one but two subjects. One student even received perfect-score awards in six years, said Meeker who presented the certificates to the students prior to the start of the board meeting.

As has been the tradition, the award presentation concluded with the students being congratulated by the Board of Trustees and school district officials. Light refreshments which included star-shaped cookies were also served to the students and their families.