ROGERS — An outstanding group of 112 Rogers students in the Rogers School District have earned the distinction of AP Scholar for their exceptional achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement Program Exams, up from 97 Rogers students in 2008.

The College Board's Advanced Placement Program offers students the opportunity to take challenging college-level courses while still in high school, and to receive college credit, advanced placement or both for successful performance on the AP Exams. Rogers students are among the top 18 percent of the more than 1.6 million high school students worldwide who took AP Exams and performed at a sufficiently high level to merit the recognition of AP Scholar.

"Rogers has an outstanding AP program and it is growing every year," said Phil Eickstaedt, the executive director for secondary curriculum and instruction.

"Our students are taking very challenging courses and scoring among the top students from around the country. This success is a credit to the hard work of our students and the quality of our AP teaching staff."

Students took the AP Exams in May 2009 after completing rigorous courses at their high schools. The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on student's performance on AP exams.

At Rogers High School:

Chelsea Anderson qualified as a National Scholar after earning a grade of 4 or higher on a 5-point scale on eight or more AP Exams.

Eighteen 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: Brynn Alford, Chelsea Anderson, Casey Caton, Jennifer Cole, Nicholas Crump, Ryan Gardner, Adam Johnson, McKenzie Keller, James Kelly, Jill Kinslow, Stephen Liguori, Tracer Moore, Leigha Mozzoni, Samuel Murphy, Sarah Weeden, Grace Weiderhaft, Edward Wheeley and Julie Youngs.

Twenty-two 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: Heather Allen, Libby Black, Kira Coonce, Jaime Curtis, Tara Diermann, Jeffrey Eisma, Lauryn Harris, Anthony Melia, Thomas Mulcahy, Taralynn Overkleeft, Haley Sanders, Jackson Schmandt, Alex Schroeder, Luke Smith, Christopher Sonntag, Gabriel Soto, Ashton Tate, Casey Thompson, Hieu Truong, Chelsea Tubb, Tiffany Walker and Stephanie Watts.

Fifty-three students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP Exams with grades of 3 or higher.

These students are: Matthew Alderson, Joseph Berroa, William Brothers, Kendall Bruce, Johanna Casey, Austin Conley, Sarah Conley, Samantha Cummins, Penelope Davis, Robert Dorch, Ryan Duffy, Kaitlyn Dye, Catherine Eaton, Matthew Ericksen, Nima Eshragh, Kevin Glennon, Jacob Grelle, Jared Hall, Kylee Hansen, Jessica Heiden, Colby Hines, Mallory Hudson, Lauren Husband, Britton Jones, Mollieanne Kuth, Zachary Lane, Silvia Martinez, Whitney Masters, Jonathan McDowell, Kelton McFarlane, Byron McGee, Kaitlin McGrail, Caleb Melton, Ashley Miller, Maxwell Muirhead, Reid Nelson, Juan Perea, Joseph Richardson, Anne Rohr, Edith Rosales, Sarah Samples, Ryan Schatzman, Alejandra Serna, Maitri Shah, Jeffrey Smith, Karem Sonora, Brandi Starnes, Daniel Sultemeier, Keifer Walsh, Matthew Williams, Taylor Wood, Brent Young and Rosalynn Ziemba.

At Rogers Heritage High School, which did not have any seniors last year:

One student, (James) Alex March, 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 theseexams.

Four 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 Ashleigh Alecusan, Gabriela Caceres, Philip Reynolds and Laura Townzen.

Fourteen students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP Exams with grades of 3 or higher. The AP Scholars are Cody Besett, Helen Burrell, Georgia Carter, Rachel Casey, Benjamin Faircloth, Jared Gilstrap, Kelsey Johnson, Nicholas Jordan, Hayden Lovelace, McKenzie Macy Nathan McFarland, Colton Pace, Amanda Ritter and Fredrico Veloz.

Of this year's award recipients at Heritage High School, all 19 are seniors who took their AP exams as juniors. These students have this senior year in which to complete collegelevel work and possibly earn a higher-level AP Scholar Award.

Most of the nation's colleges and universities award credit, advanced placement, or both based on successful performance on the AP Exams. More than 3,600 institutions award a full year's credit (sophomore standing) to students presenting a sufficient number of qualifying grades. Thirty-seven AP Exams are offered in a wide variety of subjects areas, each consisting of multiple-choice and free response (essay or problem-solving) questions (except for the Studio Art exam which evaluates students' original artwork).

According to College Board, research consistently shows that AP students who score a 3 or higher on AP exams (on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest) typically experience greater academic success college and a higher gradu ation rate than students who do not participate in AP.

Both Rogers high schools currently offer 22 AP courses in a variety of areas from science to foreign languages, history, music, English and art.

Scholars, Pages 10 on 09/30/2009

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