Sixty-two Pattonville High School students have been recognized for their outstanding performance on the college-level Advanced Placement (AP) exams taken last spring. 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 a successful performance on the course’s respective AP exam. Only about 20 percent of the more than 2.1 million high school students worldwide who took AP exams performed at a level to merit the recognition of AP Scholar.

Pattonville students took the AP exams last May after completing college-level courses at Pattonville High School. Pattonville currently offers 18 Advanced Placement courses: AP Art History, AP Biology, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP Computer Science A, AP English Language and Composition, AP Environmental Science, AP European History, AP Government and Politics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, AP Physics, AP Psychology, AP Spanish, AP Statistics, AP Studio Art and AP United States History. This year, 265 students are taking 450 sections of AP courses.

Pattonville students were recognized for achieving four different levels of AP Scholar. Two students, graduates Mario Jauregui and Savanna Wooten, were named national AP scholars. Each completed nine AP exams.

Eighteen students earned the Scholar with Distinction Award by scoring an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. The following graduates were recognized with this honor: Leslie Azwell, Mikayla Bridges, Nichole DeKoster, Courtney Faasen, Randall Hartmann, Mario Jauregui, James Lyerla, Jarred McCormick, Gage Menk, Jeffrey Morgan, Alexander Newett, Will Polster, Abigail Surlet, Trevor Vigus, Rachel Williamson, Savanna Wooten, Devin Zahner and Edmond Zhang.

10 Pattonville students earned the 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. Current seniors honored with this distinction are Eli Card, Erin McMahon, Matthew Samuel and William Skaggs. Additionally, 2019 graduates Elise Thompkins, Rylee Alipala, Joseph Ayers, Alexa Rybarczyk, Jacob Wilfong and Isaiah Wilkes were also named Scholars with Honor.

Another 32 Pattonville students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP Exams with grades of 3 or higher. Current Pattonville seniors who earned the AP Scholar Awards are: Casey Birk, Kyra Correa, Alex Djetto, Anarely Gamino-Pinon, Ayana Griffin, Jenna Hageman, Momo Kikuchi, Austin Morrison, Nathan Moser, Alessandra Nero, Logan Olejniczak, James Pieper, Emily Schrumpf, Noah Swartwout, Grant Wedig, Camilla Wilkerson and Natalie Young. Those who graduated last May and earned the recognition are: Nicholas Ertle, Aric Hamilton, Terrell Henderson, Hannah Jones, Morgan Kaemmerer, Alexis Lambros, Carleigh Lindsay, Victoria Lofland, Yasaman Mostafavi, Meaghan Pace, Justin Pruett,  Amna Saeed, Brittany Strasburger, Samuel Vaclavik and Alexis Wysocki.

More than 90 percent of the nation’s colleges and universities award credit and/or placement for qualifying exams. 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. 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 have higher college graduation rates than students who do not participate in AP.