Students Honored for High Marks on AP Exams

Many eligible for college credit through testing program

The Advanced Placement (AP) program continues to grow in Spring Branch ISD, where more than 2,300 high school students scored high enough on AP Exams in 2016 to earn possible college credits in dozens of subject areas and courses.

Last spring, almost 5,700 AP Exams were taken by more than 2,600 students, an increase of more than 500 testers from a year ago.

The increase highlights efforts at every high school campus to recruit students to rigorous AP-level courses and then encourage them to take credit-level exams as courses are completed.

“It is encouraging not only to see the growth in the number of students taking AP exams, but the consistency in our scores as our AP program grows,” said SBISD Advanced Academic Studies Facilitator Amy Ellingson. “It is a testament to our Pre-AP and AP teachers, all of whom work diligently to ensure the success of our students.”

The College Board’s AP program allows high school students to take university-level courses ranging from English literature and composition to U.S. history as well as several levels of calculus and physics. SBISD students tested in 32 separate areas.

Students can potentially earn college credit by earning a score of 3, 4 or 5 on their AP Exams. In 2016, more than 55 percent of SBISD exams earned a 3, 4 or 5. The average district score was 2.76, which was much higher than the state’s average score of 2.51. The U.S. average score was 2.85 last year.

The College Board recognizes students for outstanding achievement on multiple exams with several separate award categories.

The AP Scholar Award is granted to students who receive scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP Exams. SBISD had 301 AP Scholar Award recipients in 2016, including six 10th-graders from Westchester Academy for International Studies.

The AP Scholar with Honor award is granted to students who receive an average score of 3.25 on all AP Exams taken and scores of a 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. SBISD had 93 of these award recipients last year.

The AP Scholar with Distinction is awarded to students who receive a 3.5 on all AP Exams taken and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. SBISD had 198 students earn this distinction in 2016.

The National AP Scholar Award is given to U.S. students who receive an average score of 4 on all AP Exams taken and scores a four or higher on eight or more exams. In SBISD last spring, 31 students earned this top distinction.

In all, 623 SBISD students earned one of these honors for their performance on AP Exams in 2016. By comparison, 568 students won similar honors in 2015.

Among highlights, 181 juniors from SBISD high schools who tested in spring 2016 earned the AP Scholar Award. (See below for these student names by high school)

“Our students put in countless hours to prepare, and it is so exciting to see students who understand that hard work will pay off for their future,” Advanced Academic Studies’ Amy Ellingson said.

“Fewer college classes to take means fewer classes to pay for and faster access to the classes that apply to their chosen field. Knowing that students are able to enter college with credits for classes is exciting and brings T-2-4 to life,” she also said.

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AP Awards by Campus:

Memorial High School
(358 students honored)
129 students earned the AP Scholar Award
56 students earned the AP Scholar with Honors Award
148 students earned the AP Scholar with Distinction Award
25 students earned the AP National Scholar Award

Northbrook High School
(4 students honored)
4 students earned the AP Scholar Award

Spring Woods High School
(49 students honored)
40 students earned the AP Scholar Award
5 students earned the AP Scholar with Honors Award
4 students earned the AP Scholar with Distinction Award

Stratford High School
(201 students honored)
117 students earned the AP Scholar Award
32 students earned the AP Scholar with Honors Award
46 students earned the AP Scholar with Distinction Award
6 students earned the AP National Scholar Award

Westchester Academy for International Studies
(11 students honored)
11 students earned the AP Scholar Award

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Current SBISD Students Issued AP Achievement Awards:

Memorial High School

Seniors who earned the AP Scholar Award: Breanna Alvarez, Rachel Amran, Timothy Bailey, Kathryn Belcher, Austin Bopp, Katherine Burcham, Amelia Caven, George Chirapurath, William Choi, Madison Dahmer, Kaveri Dixit, Elizabeth Eubank, Blaire Evans, Aidan Farmayan, William Guinn, Aria Herbst, Anthony Huynh, Rachel Jiang, Samuel Kersey, Brian Kim, Ha Eun Kim, Rebecca Kroger, David Lee, Rachel Lootens, Catherine Mastren, Marshall Matheny, Emma Mueller, Benjamin Neyland, Zabrina Nguyen, Rebecca Owens, Meaghan Pansacola-Rouch, Anastasia Papin, Jihwan Park, Ju Sung Park, Morgan Parker, Celine Patel, Nicole Rodriguez Oliva, Kyra Rubinstein, Darian Sedaghat, Frances Siller, Kate Sparenberg, Luke Tesarek, Annie Titterington, Margaret Vincent, Lauren Vu, Jing Wang, Zibo Wang, Julia Westwick

Seniors who earned the AP Scholar With Honor Award: Kaho Adachi, Richard Anderson, Alexis Bennett, Justin Bryant, Analisa Canto, Miguel Caranti, Arushi Guddanti, Christina Hruzek, Alex Hwang, Alexa Iannacone, Davis Kirchhofer, Sakurako Kobayashi, Claire Miller, Joanna Moy, Lan Nguyen, Davis Palmie, Ashley Park, Maya Prakash, Rachel Ray, Arun Ruhfus, Daniella Sanchez, Robert Trout, Liyun Xu

Seniors who earned the AP Scholar With Distinction Award: Christopher An, Devin Arrants, Elizabeth Bik, William Caesar, Carson De La Rosa, Julia Delaney, Daniel Fonseka, Joshua Gao, Joshua Glass, Connor Hanna, Max Hardy, Zachary Hattig, Trent Herndon, Yue Hu, Vincent Huang, Benjamin Hughes, Tiger Im, Jungeun Koo, Seung Mook Lee, Joy Lu, Mark Oldham, Jungwoo Park, Austin Peterson, Juliette Pferdehirt, Tucker Reinhardt, Simon Rysin, Andrew Su, Grace Winburne, Frank Yang

Stratford High School

Seniors who earned the AP Scholar Award: Madison Aycock, Arturo Benitez, Hannah Broom, Madison Bryant, Kellan Cerveny, Andrew Dawson, Michell Dias, Darius Dixon, Taylor Gee, Hasib Hamdi, Sadaf Hashemian, William Hastings, Cameron Henkel, Gabriel Herrera, Carly Keusseyan, Abigail Klasing, Ernest Kohnke, Sini Lehtinen, Claire Lewis, Patrick Lewis, Emily Lister, Bolin Mahaffey, William Manke, Elena McInroe, Nestor Mejia Velaswquez, Ezra Meyer, Alec Milazzo, Samdup Miller, Noor Rajab, Philip Salls, Tomas Samitier, Emma Silavong, Mia Trinh, Grayson Whelen, Heream Yang

Seniors who earned the AP Scholars with Honor Award: Kyle Brastrom, Jairo Cano-Farias, Caroline Crawford, Mark Duna, Matthew Hopper, Dania Khan, Alec Norman, Heavin Oh, Mary Schwabenland, Jessica Sheldon, Anna Skelly, Alyssa Stanford, Nathan Winn

Spring Woods High School

Seniors who earned the AP Scholar Award: Citlali Bataz, Bruce Beth, Christopher Call, Geoffrey Call, Preston Cheney, Christopher Kim, Amanda Lee, Joel Melendez, Tracy Nguyen, Courtney Obermiller, Heather Obermiller, Pamela Ortiz, Miguel Portillo, Dean Ramirez, Gloria Sparks, Lisa Tran, Quinn Walstead, Karah Welch, Xsana Yusef

Seniors who earned the AP Scholars With Honor Award: Katherine Koslan, Jeremiah Menslage

Westchester Academy for International Studies
(11 students honored)

Juniors who earned the AP Scholar Award: Kimberly Amaro, Jasmine Anderson, Samuel Escamilla, Daniel Jaimes, Marco Medina, Catalina Row
Seniors who earned the AP Scholar Award: Carmina Escobar, Michael Facundo, Chang Jeong, Samantha Verduzco