Only about 18 percent of the more than one million students in 15,000 secondary schools worldwide who took AP exams performed at a sufficiently high level to merit such recognition.
Students take the AP exams each year in May after completing challenging college-level courses at their high schools and based on their performance, can receive college credit, advanced placement or both by the college they attend.
Levels of achievement
Through the awards program, now in its 15th year, the College Board recognizes several levels of achievement.
Students qualify for the National AP Scholar Award by earning grades of four or higher on eight or more AP exams, with an average grade of at least four (on a five-point scale). This year Valley Stream Central High School has a National AP Scholar, Ron Li, who is presently a senior; and South High School has six National AP Scholars - Benjamin Blum, Danielle Florio, Benjamin Mandel, David Moskowitz, Stefanie Nester and Alan Ng - who all graduated in June.
Students qualify for the AP Scholar With Distinction category by earning grades of 3 or higher on five or more AP exams, with an average grade of at least 3.5. Valley Stream has 34 AP Scholars With Distinction this year-11 at Central (including one National Scholar), five at North, and 18 at South (including six National Scholars).
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. The 33 AP Scholars With Honor in Valley Stream include 14 at Central, 11 at North and eight at South.
The AP Scholar award is granted to students who receive grades of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams. Valley Stream's 93 recipients include 33 at Central, 24 at North, and 36 at South.
Award winners
The AP award winners at Central, North and South High Schools include current students as well as those who graduated in June 2005. The current students, who are taking additional AP courses this year, will likely earn a higher AP award by the time they graduate in June.
Central High School
The 58 Valley Stream Central High School students who won AP awards this year are: National AP Scholar Ron Li (also included in the list of AP Scholars With Distinction); AP Scholars With Distinction Naiema Bhatti, Jennifer Cassano, Gregory Chang, Brittany Erdman, Myron Gao, Tiffany Kataria, Ron Li, Jane Lim, Rey Phillip Llenes, Mu Tang and John Wisneski; AP Scholars With Honor Sidra Ahsan, Thomas Bertha, Alex Boccio, Jaclyn Bogensberger, Brandon Borde, Elizabeth Castro, Melissa Fassetta, Jordan Goldberg, Steven Kaplan, Joseph Kramer-Miller, Albert Luk, Elizabeth Moran, Alisha Philip and Wendy Wong; and AP Scholars Saira Anees, Lindsey Bascetta, Crystan Brodsky, Stephanie Catu, Michael Connelly, Mary Conrad, Jennifer Cruz, Marisa DelCampo, Daniel Donato, Jillian Dornellas, Alyssa Endrich, Christina Estes, Randall Faber, Kristin Franks, Heather Grant, Bryan Grupp, Nicole Javal, Sharon Jung, Adina Katan, Namon Khokhar, Sara Miernicki, Nicole Miranda, Jameson Morgan, Rachel Ramdhan, Angela Russo, Kevin Russo, Crystal Sacaridiz, Anna-Michelle Spok, Laura Spotteck, Brittary Starna, Sarah Steenbeek, Timothy Tu and Sarah Weiss.
North High School
Valley Stream North High School's 40 (up from 30) AP award winners this year are AP Scholars With Distinction Megan Burke, Benjamin Cohen, Simon Spero, Mohammad Tazeem, Philip Vuong; AP Scholars With Honor Krista Carter, Andrea Cortese, Laura Diers, Leah Gorham, Daniel Jacobs, Jillian Kaplan, Ryan Lavin, Diana Melo, Frank Nasso, David Pham, Ashley Robson; and AP Scholars Pauline Badamo, Kimberly Bencivenga, Neal Brandt, Angela Calabro, Lorena Dominguez, Thomas Enriquez, Christopher Frankini, Eric Kim, Dana Laventure, Ilan Leas, Lisa Lopez, Catherine Lucente, Julio Mallonga, Anne Martello, Adam Mirabelli, Rayanne Mulieri, Jill Oleschuk, Amy Philllips, Lisa Sambat, Robert Sayers, Dennis Torres, Daniela Tripoli, Liju Varughese, Paul Vecchione.
South High School
Valley Stream South High School's 62 (up from 53) AP award winners are National AP Scholars Benjamin Blum, Danielle Florio, Benjamin Mandel, David Moskowitz, Stefanie Nester, Alan Ng (also included in the list of AP Scholars With Distinction); AP Scholars With Distinction Sasha Ahuja, Jonathan Baxter, Benjamin Blum, Kevin Bretscher, Danielle Florio, Tanya Goldman, Debra Lim, Benjamin Mandel, David Moskowitz, Stefanie Nester, Alan Ng, Sara Santner, David Spritzer, Akash Tharani, Nicholas Thibideau, Chung-Kai Wang, Ziv Wolkowicki, Syed Zaman; AP Scholars With Honor Mary Gallo, Katherine Hillman, Anderson Lee, Lauren Levy, Pablo Lituma, Sean Parlia, Benjamin Popper, Sarah Sjoberg; and AP Scholars Brian Balmes, Gabriela Barreto, Jake Blumenthal, Corey Ciorciari, Michael Eisenberg, Alex Feaser, Nicole Gallo, Keith Gotcliffe, Dana Greenberg, Michelle Ignaciuk, Kenneth Jakobsen, Shane Keogh, Sarah Kim, Anna Koltunova, Jennifer Laraque, Jeffrey Leshansky, Mark Licurse, Nicholas Macchia, Joshua Merlis, Yekaterina Migunova, Doreen Morana, Ashley Nelson, Lynda Ng, Amy Ragone, Michael Raphael, Tracy Rosenblum, Julianna Ryan, James Shea, Mark Silverman, Jonathan Smolin, Zachary Steindam, Jason Thomas, Angela Trapani, Cory Vogel, Ralph Xu and Oksana Zhivotenko.
AP courses offered
Among its three high schools, the Valley Stream High School District offers 21 college-level Advanced Placement courses in AP 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, Spanish Literature, and new this year, Italian Language.
Valley Stream makes Newsweek lists of best high schools
It is the large number of students in the district who take challenging Advanced Placement courses that has put South, North and Central High Schools all four times (in 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005) on the Newsweek list of the 1,000 most challenging high schools in the nation. The most recent listing, featured on the front page of the June/July 2005 issue of the Observer, was printed in the May 16, 2005 issue of Newsweek and on its Web site at Newsweek.com.
PHOT0# 24476 A
Valley Stream Central High School Principal Joseph Pompilio, standing left, gathers with 22 of Central's 58 AP Scholars who are still at Central. They are: front row, left to right, AP National Scholar Ron Li; AP Scholars With Distinction Brittany Erdman, Gregory Chang, Jennifer Cassano; AP Scholars With Honor Jaclyn Bogensberger, Elizabeth Castro, Albert Luk, Sidra Ahsan, Alisha Philip; second row, AP Scholars With Honor Thomas Bertha, Steven Kaplan, Joseph Kramer-Miller, Elizabeth Moran; third row, AP Scholars Jennifer Cruz, Jameson Morgan, Crystal Sacaridiz, Brittany Starna; fourth row, AP Scholars Anna-Michelle Spok, Sarah Weiss, Rachel Ramdham, Stephanie Catu, Jillian D'Ornellas.
Photo# 24476 B
Valley Stream North High School principal Cliff Odell, left, congratulates 20 of North's 40 AP Scholars still at North: first row, left to right, AP Scholar With Distinction Benjamin Cohen; AP Scholars With Honor Andrea Cortese, Leah Gorham, Daniel Jacobs, Diana Melo, David Pham, Ashley Robson; second row, AP Scholars Lorena Dominguez, Krista Carter (an AP Scholar With Honor), Angela Calabro, Lisa Sambat, Dana Laventure; and third row, AP Scholars Robert Sayers, Neal Brandt, Ilan Leas, Thomas Enriquez, Paul Vecchione and Julio Mallonga. Absent from photo are Pauline Badamo and Lisa Lopez.
Photo# 24476 C
Valley Stream South High School Assistant Principal Gregory Peddle, left, and Principal Dr. Stephen Lando, right, flank 14 of South's 62 AP Scholars still at South. They are: front row, left to right, AP Scholars With Distinction Nicholas Thibideau and Sara Santner, AP Scholars With Honor Mary Gallo, Benjamin Popper, Sarah Sjoberg; second row, AP Scholars Kenneth Jakobsen, Amy Ragone, Michael Eisenberg, Lynda Ng, Shane Keogh, Jake Blumenthal, Oksana Zhivotenko, Zachary Steindam and Ralph Xu.
