41 Students from Laguna Blanca School Earn AP Scholar Honors
Three members of the class of 2008 also are named National AP Scholars for their exam performances.
Forty-one students at Laguna Blanca School recently earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement exams.
Three members of the class of 2008 have been doubly honored, also earning the prestigious distinction of being named National AP Scholars. Advanced Placement Scholar Awards are given to those who have performed especially well on the past year’s Advanced Placement examinations administered in May.
“We are absolutely delighted to receive this news, and extremely proud of the efforts of these seniors and recent graduates, just as we are of all of our hardworking students,” Laguna Blanca Headmaster Doug Jessup said. “Last year’s earning of 32 such designations was a record for the school, so this year takes the cake, with a full 40 percent of the students in our eldest two classes meriting this special recognition.”
About 18 percent of the 1.6 million students worldwide who took AP exams performed at a sufficiently high level to also earn an AP Scholar Award. Each exam is developed by a committee of college and university faculty and AP teachers, ensuring that the exams are aligned with the same high standards expected by college faculty at some of the nation’s leading liberal arts and research institutions.
The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on students’ performance on AP exams. At Laguna Blanca, three students qualified for the National AP Scholar Award by earning an average grade of 4 or higher on a five-point scale on all AP exams taken, and grades of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams. Those students are: Catherine Carbone, now at Brown University, Andrew Judson at the University of Pennsylvania and Nathaniel Oliver at Stanford University.
Ten students qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. Those students are: Monica Beltran, class of 2009, Carbone, Judson, Oliver, Miranda Green at George Washington University, Christian Handley at UC Berkeley, Spencer Klavan of the class of 2009, Felicia Palmer at Scripps College, Gregory Passani at UCLA and John Wright at Stanford.
Seven students qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. Those students are: Willy Chotzen-Freund, Mitchell Landers, Erin Dunn, Seung-Keun Martinez, Audrey McPherson and Esther Tran Le, all of the class of 2009, Marisa Demourkas, now at Wheaton College and Patrick Lauer at the University of Southern California.
Twenty-four students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP exams, with grades of 3 or higher. The AP Scholars are: Rachel Barbour, Niki Byrne, Melina Hayum, Kevin Lunn, Brooke Matthews and Alejandro Tovar, all of the class of 2009, Hannah Allen, now at Wheaton College, Joanna Bourain at Wesleyan University, Ryan Emmons at USC, Gail Goldmuntz at Miami University of Ohio, Daniel Gutsche at Columbia University, Henry Handtmann at Claremont McKenna College, Madeline Hunt at UCLA, Colin Mattingly at the University of Denver, Marisa Nicoletti at Miami University of Ohio, Trevor Pontifex at UC Berkeley, Colin Rice-Dubin at Loyola Marymount University, Gabriela Rosales at Vassar College, Sean Shoemaker at Vassar College, Paige Sorenson at UC Irvine, Kameron Tarlow at Pennsylvania State University, Treven Yothers at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Katherine Zitnik at UC Davis.
The College Board is a nonprofit membership organization whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is made up of more than 5,400 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations.
Each year, the College Board serves 7 million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools and 3,500 colleges through major programs and services in college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs are the SAT, the PSAT/NMSQT and the Advanced Placement Program.
Doug Jessup is headmaster of Laguna Blanca School.
