The Goose Creek Board of Trustees recognized students named Advanced Placement Scholars on Monday, Jan. 9. From left are Christopher D. Williams, Lee; Hector Vela, Lee; Andra Steele, Lee; Aditi Singh, Lee; Emily Pohr, Lee; Joel Mendez, Lee; Travis Goss, Lee; Jose Garcia, Lee; Morgan Curry, Lee; Courtney Spann, Goose Creek Memorial; Alexander Hunt, Goose Creek Memorial; Taylor Cook, Goose Creek Memorial; and Alyssa Clift, Goose Creek Memorial. Photo Gallery

77 Goose Creek CISD students named Advanced Placement Scholars

The College Board, in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement (AP) Examinations, has named 77 Goose Creek students as AP Scholars. Last year, the school district had 53 students earn placement on the list.

Success on AP exams generally means that these 77 students entered or will enter their first year of college having already earned credit hours. Members of the school district’s Classes of 2011 have gone on to such schools as the University of Texas, Texas A&M, University of Oklahoma, Stephen F. Austin State University, Colorado School of Mines, the U.S. Naval Academy, Brown University, Johns Hopkins University, Baylor University, Trinity University, and Rice University to name a few.

Goose Creek CISD Superintendent, Dr. Toby York, said, “High rigor and high expectations paired with challenging opportunities, like college level classes in high school, help many students toward a path of success. We are proud of the achievements of these students and congratulate them and their parents.”

Goose Creek CISD also saw large increases in the number of students enrolled in AP classes (up 29.6 percent), the number of AP exams taken (up 33.9 percent), and the number of AP students taking AP exams (up 38.5 percent).

The College Board’s AP Program provides academically prepared students with the opportunity to take rigorous college-level courses while still in high school, and to earn college credit, advanced placement or both for successful performances on the AP exams.

About 18 percent of the more than 1.9 million students worldwide who took AP exams performed at a sufficiently high level to also earn an AP Scholar award.

The AP exams are administered in May and cover social studies, sciences, math, English, foreign languages and arts.

The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on the number of yearlong courses and exams (or their equivalent semester-long courses and exams):


Ten students earned the AP Scholar with Distinction Award. These students must earn an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.


Robert E. Lee High School: Raven Graves.


Ross S. Sterling High School: Joseph Anthony, Kaitlyn Gainer, Lauren Gainer, Clarita Hernandez, Megan Jordan, Jarrod Odom, and Thayer Walmsley.


Goose Creek Memorial High School: Juan Medina and Rajdeepsingh Waghela.
Six students earned the AP Scholar with Honor Award. These students must earn an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams.
Robert E. Lee High School: Jennifer Epperson, Justin Mincks, and James Voytek.
Ross S. Sterling High School: Farah Ashraf and Sam Vallagomesa.
Goose Creek Memorial High School: Saumil Datar.

Sixty-one students earned the AP Scholar Award. Students qualify by completing three or more AP Exams, with grades of 3 or higher.


Robert E. Lee High School: Luis Cantu, Jose Carrillo, Zachery Carter, Morgan Curry, Mirza Fuentes, Jose Garcia, Travis Goss, Zabdi Guzman, Kaitlyn Martin, Joel Mendez, Emily Pohr, Alec Reeves, Aditi Singh, Andra Steele, Melissa Taylor, Hector Vela, and Christopher D. Williams.


Ross S. Sterling High School: Janci Addison, Lance Angelle, Rida Ashraf, Tiffani Branch, Colt Campbell, Luis Davila, Jacki Delgado, Selina Duran, Alyssa Gainer, Taylor Gamez, Morgan Garvey, Julie Gomez, Sirena Gutierrez, Madison Hayes, Morgan Hollingsworth, Thomas Lagrone, Zachary Martin, Alejandra Martinez, Michael Miller, Pricila Nolasco, Daniel Norris, Madison Pepper, Nicholas Pequeno, Catherine Poepsel, Sonali Rahlon, Stephanie Sandoval-Rodriguez, Steele Seeley, Rachel Smith, Jarrod Strokos, and Jeshua Watts.


Goose Creek Memorial High School: Ryan Armstrong, Jacob Bailey, Alyssa Clift, Taylor Cook, Tanner Hilyard, Alexander Hunt, Tarun Jain, Gregory Javois, Sterling Poth, Jacob Ratliff, Courtney Spann, Logan Spurgeon, Haley Tompkins, and Shelbi Wallace.

Statewide, Texas experienced an almost 11 percent increase in the number of public school students taking an Advanced Placement (AP) test in 2011.

Students may take an AP exam without being enrolled in an AP class in high school but most students do take the corresponding class.

Research shows that taking AP classes and exams can benefit students in several important ways:


AP students are more likely to graduate from college in four years - students who take longer to graduate at public colleges and universities can spend up to $19,000 for each additional year.


AP helps students qualify for scholarships - 31 percent of colleges and universities look at AP experience when determining scholarships.