Fifty-eight students at Mount Si High School have earned 2012 Advanced Placement (AP) Scholar Awards in recognition of their exceptional achievement on AP exams they took last spring. This is an increase from last year’s 29 AP Scholars at Mount Si.

The College Board’s national Advanced Placement Program® (AP) gives prepared students the opportunity to take college-level courses while in high school. Students with successful performance on AP exams may earn college credit, qualify for advanced placement in college, and stand out in the college admissions process.

Success on an AP exam is defined as a score of 3 or higher (on a scale of 1 to 5.) Research shows that students who score a 3 or higher on AP exams typically experience academic success in college and have a higher college graduation rate than students who do not participate in AP in high school.

Seventeen Mount Si High School students received the 2012 AP Scholar with Distinction award,  which recognizes students who earned an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of the exams: Shannon Barnhart, Chace Carlson, Brian Copeland, Molly Cordell, Landon Edwards, Riley Edwards, Gillian Goodwin, Azhar Khandekar, Jeremy Knight, Margaret Krivanec, John Marshall, Sally Miller, Robert Rollins, Syed Abbas Tahirzadeh, Ben Wheeler, Taylor Wiles and Alena Wooldridge. In addition, Wooldridge qualified as a 2012 National AP Scholar, averaging 4 or more on all AP exams last year, and scoring 4 or higher on at least eight exams the preceding year.

Fifteen received the 2012 AP Scholar with Honor award for averaging 3.25 or higher on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams: Jessica Adams, Molly Boord, Brynn Davis, Madeline Gill, Jennifer Green, Maria Kajercline, Matthew Kawachi, Haley McColgan, Maura Murphy, Sam Omalie, Emily Pemberton, Kyle Seymour, Ryan Sharon, Kayla Tostevin and Megan Wachtendonk.

Another 26 students earned the 2012 AP Scholar award for scoring 3 or higher on three or more AP exams: Eden Altwies, Delaney Aydel, Alex Censullo, Daniele Curley, Heidi DeHart, Joshua Hamann, Rhett Haney, Janna Haskin, Rachel Hayford, Rachel Hong, Andrew Kim, Carmen Kroschel, Erin Lamos, Molly Mabel, Van Magnan, Shannon McEldowney, Erik Meister, Sierra Morin, Lucy Murdoch, Mari Patis, Alex Pease, Lydia Pinkley, Lexie Read, Lynell Solene, Courtney Wilhelm and Emma Wright.

This school year, Mount Si High School is offering 17 AP college-level courses that cover a broad range of academic disciplines, and an enrollment of 728 seats are being filled in AP classes by MSHS students.

Advanced Placement courses offered at Mount Si High School this year include biology, calculus, chemistry, computer science, English language, English literature, environmental science, European history, government and politics, physics, Spanish, statistics, studio art (2D and 3D), US history, and world history.

In addition, Mount Si students have access to seven AP subjects online through the Snoqualmie Valley Virtual Academy: art history, French, English language & composition, macroeconomics, microeconomics, psychology, and US government.

“We are extremely proud of the achievements of these AP Scholar students who are among the top-performing students in the nation based on their 2012 exam scores,” said Mount Si High School principal John Belcher. “Mount Si students are encouraged to pursue academically rigorous subjects that will help prepare them for a successful college experience and the school continues to expand the breadth of AP courses we offer, in response to students’ growing interests.”

For information, visit http://apcentral.collegeboard.com.