Seventy-one Tahoma High School students – two of them on a national level – have earned the designation of AP Scholar in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement exams.
The amount of AP qualifiers is a 30 percent increase from the number at Tahoma last year and a 70 percent increase over the past two years.
Ashley Maxwell and Patrick Williams qualified for the National AP Scholar Award, as well as for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award, by earning an average grade of 4 or higher on a 5-point scale on all AP exams taken, and grades of 4 or higher on eight or more of the exams.
Maxwell and Williams are only the second and third students in Tahoma School District history to earn the national status. The first was Matthew Zemek, a 2007 graduate.
“We are thrilled to have two more students attain this honor,” said Brooke Dillon, an English teacher and Tahoma High’s AP coordinator.
In addition to Maxwell and Williams, 16 other students qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average grade of 3.5 or higher on a 5-point scale on all AP exams, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of the exams. The students are Daniel Bauer, Sun-Li Beatteay, Emily Bicknell, Ryan Cahoon, Kirsten Hamberg, Shirley Kim, Samantha Kunze, Laura Mayorga, Zachary Patnode, Kelton Sears, Hannah Stumpp, Everett Sullivan, Joel Sweeney, Russell Verkruyse, Curtis Walton and Kyle Zemek.
Students who qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all exams and 3 or higher on four or more of them include Amanda Arriola, Nicole Brown, Brian Davis, Kelly Lehigh, Bryan Martin, Ben Mead, Richard Myers, Sean Peerenboom, Sarah Richardson, Lucas Simons, Alexander Sivitilli, Michael Slater, Michael Verkruyse, Kelsy Taylor and Michelle Wallace.
The AP Scholar Award required completing three or more AP exams with grades of 3 or higher. Earning that distinction were Hannah Bachman, Erin Board, Mallory Bouchee, Rachel Bowers, Anthony Buhr, Brianna Celli, Jameson Clark, Nicholas Dotson, Alex Duncan, David French, Lauren Gazdik, Eric Guzman, Riley Hageman, Jordan Heintz, Matthew Hobart, Samantha Holden, Chandra Horne, Brianna Klokow, Ryan Markert, Stephanie Mataya, Alena Morris, Kristine Parker, Rachel Petit, Breanne Pherigo, Kaeli Rivera, Taylor Shiroma, Cory Sjoberg, Riley Sloan, David Sutterfield, Kevin Tao, Charles Tilander, Gerard Trimberger, Marina Viola, Rachel Weinkauf, Kassia Wilhelm, and Trevor Wood.
