By: Arlene Hinkemeyer
The large increase up from 85 last year is primarily due to the fact that the College Board changed the criteria this year, to give half-year courses the same weight as full-year courses.
Only about 17 percent of more than a million students in 15,000 secondary schools nationwide who took AP exams performed at a sufficiently high level to merit such recognition.
Students take the AP exams in May after completing college-level courses at their high schools. Based on their performance, they can receive college credit, advanced placement or both by the college they attend.
Through the awards program, now in its 14th year, the College Board recognizes several levels of achievement. Students qualify for the National AP Scholar Award by earning grades of 4 or higher (on a 5-point scale) on eight or more AP exams. This year South High School has a National AP Scholar, Jonathan Karp, who graduated in June.
Students qualify for the AP Scholar With Distinction category by earning grades of 3 or higher on five or more exams, with an average grade of at least 3.5. Valley Stream has 27 Scholars With Distinction this year.
The AP Scholar With Honor must earn grades of 3 or above on four or more AP exams, with an average grade of at least 3.25. There are 31 AP Scholars With Honor in Valley Stream.
The AP Scholar award is given to students who receive grades of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams. Valley Stream has 86 recipients.
The AP award winners at Central, North and South high schools include current students as well as those who graduated in June. The current students, who are taking additional AP courses this year, may earn a higher AP award by the time they graduate in June.
Central High School
The 61 Central High School students (up from 37 last year) who won AP awards this year are AP Scholars With Distinction Kyle Antonelli, Naiema Bhatti, Chen Chen (who has moved out of the district), Amrita Khokhar, Benjamin Kramer-Miller, Jane Lim, Lauren Martini, Maria Osorio, Patricia Raimondi, Patricia Rekawek, Jenny Robateau and Nida Siddiqi; AP Scholars With Honor Alex Boccio, Michael Connelly, Christina Estes, Jordan Goldberg, Tiffany Kataria, John Wisneski and Wendy Wong; and AP Scholars Nicole Alimario, Brittany Bascetta, Lindsey Bascetta, Cynthia Calixte, Darrell Cheng, Amanda Cully, Steven Cusumano, Katherine Dauz, Marisa DelCampo, Daniel Donato, Noelle Dziedzic, Alyssa Endrich, Alyssa Fanno, Melissa Fassetta, Kristin Franks, Michael Frittola, Jamie Futoran, Myron Gao, Bryan Grupp, Carrie Gurowitz, Stefan Hennessy, Nicole Javal, Sharon Jung, Adina Katan, Brian Kennedy, Daniel Khachatorian, Namon Khokhar, Paul Kovalov, Albert Luk, Ria Mar-Fan, Nicole Miranda, Marissa Mora, Shinelle Pierre, Stephanie Pontillo, Shawn Rajan, Angela Russo, Jennifer Saint-Preux, Laura Spotteck, Sarah Steenbeek, Brian Stephenson, Mu Tang and Timothy Tu.
North High School
North High School-s 30 AP award winners this year (up from 19) are AP Scholars With Distinction Jasmine Badamo, Colleen Baktis, Jacquelyn Cafasso, Edith Jurado, Muhammad Tazeem, Philip Vuong and Robert Young; AP Scholars With Honor Karen Bevington, Megan Burke, Franklin DeFelice, Laura Diers, Eric Kim, Ryan Lavin, Alfred Mirando, Olorunfunmi Ojetayo, Simon Spero, Dennis Torres and Seong Min Yang; and AP Scholars Kimberly Bencivenga, Maureen Byrnes, Denise Fan, Aaron Fried, Stephen Koumos, Frank Nasso, Jill Oleschuk, Michael Pellegrino, Katie Russo, Marissa Scatena, Peter Sticco and Olive Villapana.
South High School
South High School-s 53 AP award winners (up from 29) are National AP Scholar Jonathan Karp (also included in the list of AP Scholars With Distinction); AP Scholars With Distinction Jonathan Baxter, Stephanie Hung, Jonathan Karp, Andrew Lim, Stefanie Nester, Alan Ng, Jacob Olson and Danya Spritzer; AP Scholars With Honor Sasha Ahuja, Benjamin Blum, Jordan Epstein, Danielle Florio, Katherine Hillman, Gibok Kyung, Debra Lim, Pablo Lituma, Benjamin Mandel, David Moskowitz, Lauren O-Leary, David Spritzer and Ziv Wolkowicki; and AP Scholars Kevin Bretscher, MaryKate Byrnes, Corey Ciorciari, Tanya Goldman, Dana Greenberg, Sarah Kim, Alexander Klein, Jennifer Laraque, Anderson Lee, Jean Lee, Timothy Lines, Omar Mathir, Teresa McCann, Desiree Meade, Doreen Morana, Ashley Nelson, Elena Pagliarini, Sean Parlia, Michael Ram, Karen Rawlins, Julianna Ryan, Nathaniel Safren, Grace Schneider, Scott Steven, Natalie Stokum, Stephanie Stravinskas, Benjamin Tangney, Akash Tharani, Jason Thomas, Robert Valletti and Syed Zaman.
AP courses
The high school district offers 20 Advanced Placement courses, including English language, English literature, European history, American history, government, psychology, biology, chemistry, physics, calculus AB, calculus BC, statistics, computer science, environmental science, music theory, art, French language, French literature, Spanish language and Spanish literature.
V.S. schools make Newsweek list
The large number of students who take Advanced Placement courses has put Central, North and South on Newsweek-s list of the best high schools in the nation the top 4 percent three times, in 1998, 2000 and 2003.
