67 Pope John students awarded Advanced Placement scholar honors

Sixty-seven Pope John XXIII Regional High School students have been recognized for their outstanding achievement on the 2020 Advanced Placement exams by The College Board.

This year’s exams took place online because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are blessed by their presence and the gifts that they share with the entire Pope John community,” said Monsignor Kieran McHugh, the high school’s president. “We are thankful to the parents who sacrifice to send their children to Pope John High School. Needless to say, we are proud and thankful for our students and teachers who despite all of the obstacles presented by COVID-19, they did not take their foot off the pedal. We all stayed the course and we did not miss a beat.”

For the last four years, Pope John has had at least 60 students earn AP Scholar recognition.

National AP Scholars

Out of this year’s 67 students, eight students were named National AP Scholars for averaging a score of at least 4 on all AP exams, and earning scores of 4 or higher on eight or more exams. These students are:

● Shannon Kelly

● Patryk Lewicki

● Bridget McNally

● Rohan Mukundhan

● Emily Mundt

● Ashley Potts

● Yan Sherry Wu

The eight National AP Scholar students are the most Pope John has had in the last six years. Pope John has had at least three National AP Scholar winners in each of the last six years. The eight students this year combined for an average score of 4.42.

AP Scholar with Distinction

Thirty-three other students were named AP Scholar with Distinction for posting an average score of 3.5 on all AP exams, and earning scores of 3 or higher on five or more exams. These students are:

● Drew Buchanan

● Lucy Campbell

● Maura Campbell

● Seung Yeon Cha

● Timothy Connell

● Connor Dempsey

● Carolyn DiPietro

● Taylor Ferguson

● Kyle Forchette

● Douglas Fowler

● Hunter Gallo

● Logan Hanley

● Zhihuan Richard Hao

● Qiliang Eric Huang

● Shannon Kelly

● Patryck Lewicki

● Alexa Manchak

● Jonathan Meyers

● Bridgett McNally

● James Milano

● Rohan Mukundhan

● Emily Mundt

● Natalie O’Hearn

● Olivia O’Hearn

● Grace Pinsonault

● Margaret Piwko

● Ashley Potts

● Doreen Riso

● James Setlock

● Anna Ursin

● Gabrielle Ursin

● Katrina Veal

● Yan Sherry Wu

These students combined for an average of 4.18.

AP Scholar with Honors

In addition, 11 students were granted AP Scholar with Honor status after averaging a score of 3.25 on all AP exams, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more exams. These students are:

● Dylan Bachrach

● Sarah Bednarick

● Joan Guarda

● Catherine Jhong

● Eric Libero

● Timothy Nagle

● Hannah Scheible

● Zofia Schreiber

● Ciera Smith

● Garrett Young

● Kaiyan Zhou

These students posted an average score of 3.65.

AP Scholar award

Moreover, 15 students earned the AP Scholar award for posting scores of 3 or higher on three or more exams. The AP Scholar winners are:

● Alana Balisi

● Daniel Bi

● Suraj Bose

● Teja Brown

● Nicole Donnelly

● Delia Drace

● Eden Espinosa

● Joseph Firneno

● Sophia Ippolito

● Catherine Lovett

● Ryan Rodrigues

● Katie Schenkel

● Devin Sellinger

● Martha Sengor

● Mark Sternefeld

These students had an average score of 3.08.

AP scores are reported on a 5-point scale: 5 = extremely well qualified, 4 = well qualified, 3 = qualified, 2 = possibly qualified and 1 = no recommendation. Many colleges and universities grant credit and/or advanced placement for scores of 3, 4 or 5.

The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program provides motivated and 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 performance on the AP Exams. The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on a student’s performance on AP exams.