At Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting, Verona High School honored a large contingent of current and former students for their performance on Advanced Placement (AP) exams.
As a result of AP exams taken in the spring, 39 students were honored as AP Scholars because they received scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams. Fourteen students were named AP Scholars with Honor because they received an average of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. A large group–32 students–we named AP Scholars with Distinction for receiving an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.
 Finally, nine students were honored as National AP Scholars, which is the designation for students who receive an average of at least 4 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams.
 This was the largest cohort of National AP Scholars since 2009.
Charlie Miller, the director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment for Verona’s public schools, also charted the growth of enrollment in AP classes at VHS and participation in AP exams. Since 2009, when Verona began encouraging all students to take AP classes, enrollment has risen from 82 students to 322 last year, which was just over 46% of the student body at VHS. Only 145 AP tests were taken in 2009; this past spring, 623 tests were given.
Miller also stressed that Verona’s results on AP tests has not been compromised by opening the classes and testing to more students. In 2009, the overall average AP test score was 2.82. In the spring of 2018, the average was 3.09. The gains have been particularly notable in the subject that is generally regarded as the hardest AP class and test: AP Chemistry. In 2011, the six students who took the exam had an average score of 2.83. Seventeen students took AP Chem in the last school year, and scored an average 4.29. And there have been dramatic gains in enrollment in computer science, an area of study that has become a cornerstone at VHS. In 2009, only four students took Computer Science A; in 2018, there were 63 students in the class.
AP Scholar: Liliana Benanchietti, Hannah Boyle, Brianna Camp, Brandon Cariani, Sarah Carlucci, Jenna Da Rin, Christian Dionisio, Marwa Elessawy, Margaret Evans, Delayna Feuerzeig, Megan Forrest, Kayla Golebieski, Max Handler, Brianna Horton, Evan Huaman, Tyler Jackson, Michael Johnson, Lucas Konrad-Parisi, Margarita Kousoulou, Emma May Kubacki, Christopher Lakin, Chloe Lamb, Isabel Latorre, Chloe Mathewson, Maeve McGinley, Dean Ramsthaler, Evan Saleh, Daniel Sandoval, Kevin Scanlon, Rebecca Seubert, James Short, Julianna Spina, Kate Stanisci, Julianna Tuorto, Ava Vasalani, Rachael Weir, Henry Wertz, Michael Willner, Lauren Zanders
AP Scholar with Honor: Elijah Baker, Christine Feeley, Anthony Freda, Mitch Kiwior, Michael Maglione, David Motley, Alexander Ng, Kitty Pagano, Olivia Schechter, Michael Shamouil, Michael Sluck, Daniela Trujillo, Darian Yakhnis, Alexander Ziolkowski
AP Scholar with Distinction: Julia Burke, Samuel Chambers, Philip Chivily, Alexandra Deutsch, Brian Feury, Elizabeth Hensal, Alexandra Holland, Caitlin Klose, Ryan McKeown, Matthew Nagy, Gwynneth O’Donnell, Garrett Percevault, Gabriel Quagliata, William Sheehan, Artur Shum, Aydin Sidali, Andrew Siegelin, Nicolas Slawski, Cole Smith, Alexandra Stone, Sam Volpe, Mark Walsh, Owen Yarmo-Gray, Elyssia Yung
National AP Scholar: George Du Laney, Isabella Josephson, Henry Noren, Anna Rosinski, Jordan Shaffer, Jason Siegelin, Kyle Smith, Isabella Williams
Photo copyright Kathleen Seubert. Used by permission.
