North Fort Myers High students excel in College Board AP program
More and more North Fort Myers High School students have achieved academic excellence in the College Board s Advanced Placement Program (AP) – 37 in total. That is up from 14 students last year.
The recently released results include six local North High students that earned the highest award, the AP Scholar with Distinction.
The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program 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 placement, or both for successful performance on the AP Exams, according to Joe Donzelli, the Lee County School’s spokesman.
Most importantly, it will make them stand-outs in the college admissions process.
Of this year’s award recipients at North Fort Myers High School, 11 are sophomores or juniors, Donzelli said. These students have at least one more year in which to complete college-level work and possibly earn a higher-level AP Scholar Award.
The AP scholars at North High include Taylor Brown, Erin O’Connell, Carissa Coppins, Lydia Rodriguez, Steven Bradley, Sterling Wingard, Kent Miller, Michael Hubner, John Planas and Tony Romee. Miller and Planas were two of the AP Scholar with Distinction honorees.
How did so many local North Fort Myers students reach this plateau? “We actually had more students than ever take AP classes and exams last year. We offer 17 AP exams here at North,” said North Fort Myers High School Principal Kimberly Lunger. “I believe that the answer is placing the perfect teacher in the instructor s role. Our teachers are trained and highly motivated. That energy and motivation is reflected in the student s success.”
It is very prestigious to receive any award from the College Board, Lunger said. “Though there is no monetary reward, the payoff comes when students receive college credit for classes in which the students scored a three or higher on. All AP courses are reflected on a student s transcripts.”
She said everyone at North High is proud of such a distinction. “Our programs are rigorous and our students are willing and able to put in the extra effort to take AP courses. We are very proud of the increase in numbers, not only of students taking AP courses, but the number of students passing the exams. We have great students here.”
For Miller, it is not just the credits. “I’m hoping at the very least to get credits so I don’t have to take certain classes. It’s like getting a head start.”
Miller said he is considering aerospace engineering as a possible career field.
“This was unexpected for me,” said Planas of the honor. “I know it is a cliche, but it feels really good.”
Earning the achievement wasn’t easy, students said. “The tests were very lengthy and difficult,” said Wingard. “They covered about everything – and more.”
In other North High news, Homecoming will be held on Friday, Oct. 15.