Last year, in early May, 202 students at St. Johnsbury Academy joined hundreds of thousands of students world-wide to sit for comprehensive examinations as part of The College Board's Advanced Placement (APÂ®) program. The AP program provides motivated and academically prepared students the opportunity to take rigorous college-level courses while still in high school. Successful performance on the AP exams helps students earn college credit, advanced placement, or both depending on the college or university.
All told, the 202 students took 370 AP exams. St. Johnsbury Academy's passing rate (the percentage of exams on which students earned a 3 or higher on a five point scale) was 79.2 percent, five points higher than the previous year and well above both the state and national rates (66.9 and 61.4 respectively).
"These results speak volumes about the character of our students, the investment and dedication of our teachers, and the preparation that our sending schools do getting them ready for their high school education" said Jeffrey Burroughs, SJA's assistant headmaster for Academics. "I am proud of all of the students who enroll in AP courses each year to push themselves academically."
A select group of 57 students earned special recognition from the College Board in one of three categories.
AP Scholars with Distinction scored an average of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and grades of 3 or higher on five or more exams. Students earning this recognition included 2012 graduates Julian Grant, Skylar Lobdell, Morgan Macie, Martin McGorty, Autumn McNabb-Schoch, Amelia McNally, Eric Rauert, Cyrus Ready-Campbell, Alex Vepaelst and Stan Walden, and current senior Clare Neal.
AP Scholars with Honors scored an average grade of 3.25 on all exams taken and grades of 3 or higher on four or more exams. Students earning this recognition included 2012 graduates Elizabeth Baker, Jane Chen, Mingyu Chen, Ethan Goss, Katelyn Graves, Adam Marchesseault, Alex Rogers, Madeleine Salmon, Ava Schein, Xin Wei, and Ningyi Xi; and seniors Neil Deramchi, Deanna Emery, Eli Kerr, Jae Hong Kim and Thomas Nowicki.
AP Scholars scored a grade of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams. Students earning this recognition included 2012 graduates Rebekah Balch, Melissa Dimas, Perry Emerson, Victor Guimaraes, Shannon Jefferson, Bailey Johnson, William Kerin, Laya Mathew, Christopher Mazzonna, Giovanina Mier, Erin Reiner, Keith Robert, Joshua Rosenfeld, David Rubenstein, Olivia Thomas, Liren Wang, and Fangzhou Yuan; and seniors Emily Eaton, Amanda Eberhardt, Nora Gair, Colin Jacobs, Anna Kadinoff, Caroline Lawlor, Olivia Palermo, Grace Phillips, Daniel Sattelberger, Young Ho Song, Claire Van Der Eems, Liren Wang and Haoyue Yang.