For Immediate Release
November 23, 2009
Contact: Deborah Kirwan, 630/468-4250
City, State: Darien, Illinois

167 Students at Hinsdale South High School have earned AP Scholar Awards III recognition of their exceptional achievement on AP Exams.

The College Board's Advance Placement Program (AP) provides motivated and academically prepared students with the opportunity to take rigorous college-level courses while still in high school, and to earn college credit, advanced placements, or both for successful performance on the AP exams. About 18 percent of the nearly 1.7 million students worldwide who took AP Exams performed at a sufficiently high level to also earn an AP Scholar Award.

The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on students' performance on AP Exams.

At Hinsdale South 15 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. These students are: Eric Anderson, Rebecca Bacon¬Ehlers, Matthew Fix, Hilary Fung, Sandhya Ghai, Ann He, Michelle Itkonen, Glen Janson, Kevin Johnson, Elizabeth Joseph, Kevin Lee, Erluo Li, Kartikeya Mital, Brittany Navy-Mackey and Julie Yang.

77 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. These students are: Ambily Abraham, Navin Abraham, Raghav Anantharaju, Eric Anderson, Angelene Arito, Rebecca Bacon-Ehlers, Julien Barrientos, Renata Blachut, Huzefa Bohri, Chelsea Coatney, Marcus Cole, Michael Collis, Aaron Darroch, Manan Dhingra, Jordan Dyson, Alyssa Ferrando, Matthew Fix, Hilary Fung, Christopher Gabel, Amanda Gauthier, Sandhya Ghai, Melissa Giese, James Goldthorpe, Charles Gorney, Jon Gregoire, Vivek Gupta, Omar Hassan, Misha Hayes, Ann He, Michelle Itkonen, Glen Janson, Danielle Jauregui, Kevin Johnson, Rachel Johnson, Elizabeth Joseph, Kristine Kassl, Sarah Keal, Kevin Lee, John Leganski, Erluo Li, Jenna Lizzo, Amanda Lofgren, Kartikeya Mital, Marina Nir, Reginald Nkansah, Brittany Navy-Mackey, Sabia Obaidullah, Patrick O'Connell, Joyce Okendo, Valentina Palmiotti, Rajul Parekh, James Pavese, Julia Petrich, Rahul Puranmalka, Jessica Reif, Madeline Rohner, Vienet Romero, Allison Ross, Amanda Rowland, Michael Rozum, Rachel Russell, Henry Schmidt, Zakariyah Shah, Neha Sharma, Gabriel Soto, Bradley Stock, Kevin Sturino, Linda Sun, Andrew Sze, Michael Tanious, Austin Thomas, Joshua Trif, Jonathon Wanta, Brian Weigel, Julie Yang, Daniel Zangri and Selina Zawacki.

32 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. These students are: Azka Afzal, Alethea Appavu, Alexandra Basso, Patrick Boland, Daniel Casimiro, Chee Haw Chan, Grace Chang, Robert Christenson, Lauren Dalicandro, Eric Davila, Amanda Disrud, Gazelle Dumagan, Amy Forssberg, Jorie Grande, Alina Greab, Carly Hinni, Brenda Hu, Adnan Hussain, Julieanne Kerstein, Natalie Kubik, Rohan Mathur, Kevin McIlwee, Stephen Murphy, Justin Ng, Adrianna Polit, Chetan Rao, Kerry Reinbold, Charlotte Silver, Amy Steinken, Jocelyn Wang, Mariah Wood and Bonnie Xu.

58 students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP Exams with grades of 3 or higher. The AP Scholars are: Erin Awtry, Hunyah Basathia, Emily Bennett, David Biedrzycki, Michelle Bolos, Breane Budaitis, Jordan Burns, Maria Campanile, Edgar Davila, Eva Davis, Dane Deking, Louis Demarco, Amanda Digangi, Benjamin Eggler, Casey Emmons, Nicole Garino, Udaya Ghai, Anthony Guglielmi, Gregory Gunnerson, Ryann Howard, Lauren Jablonski, Lorna Johnson, Philip Kagan, Kevin Kaminski, Steven Kowalski, Briana Kvasnicka, Benjamin Lawhead, Melissa Lawrence, Donald Lewis, Lisa Lipon, Andrew Luce, Titas Maciulis, Matt Madsen, Elizabeth Majerczyk, Peter Makar, Tyler Mascarello, John McGowan, Madeline Meyer, Patrick Mika, Christine Miller, Michelle Morelli, Kevin Murray, Barbara Neupauer, Peter Nielsen, Bobbie Patel, Maximilian Rodrigues, Eric Ruck, Lauren SanJuan, Lori Shah, Haya Shareef, Megha Srivastava, Michael Swiatek, Catherine Thuruthiyil, Sandra Tichy, Anna Valcour, Charles Vokes, Robert Wott and Celia Zanayed.

Of this year's award recipients at Hinsdale South, 63 were sophomores or juniors. These students have at least one more year in which to complete college level work and possibly earn a higher level AP Scholar Award.

Through more than 30 different college level courses and exams, AP provides motivated and academically prepared students with the opportunity to earn college credit or advance placement and stand out in the college admissions process. Each exam is developed by a committee of college and university faculty and AP teachers, ensuring that AP exams are aligned with the same high standards expected by college faculty at some of the nation's leading liberal arts and research institutions. More than 3,600 colleges and universities annually receive AP grades. Over 90 percent of four-year colleges in the United States provide credit andlor placement for qualifying exam grades. Research consistently shows that AP students who score a 3 or higher on AP exams (based on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest) typically experience greater academic success in college and higher graduation rates than students who do not participate in AP.

The College Board is a not-for-profit membership organization whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 5,600 schools, colleges, universities, and other educational organizations. Each year, the College Board serves seven million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,800 colleges through major programs and services in college readiness, 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 (AP). The College Board is committed to the principles of excellence and equity, and that commitment is embodied in all of its programs, services, activities and concerns.