Seventy-five students at Garden City High School have earned the designation of AP scholar by the College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement (AP) exams.

The College Board's Advanced Placement Program offers students the opportunity to take challenging college-level courses while still in high school and to receive college credit, advanced placement, or both, for successful performance on the AP exams.

Almost 15 percent of the more than one million high school students in more than 14,000 secondary schools worldwide who took AP exams performed at a sufficiently high level to merit the recognition of AP scholar. Students took AP exams in May after completing challenging college-level courses at their high schools. 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).

At Garden City High School four students qualified for the National AP Scholar 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 these exams. These students are John Adamo, Douglas Hard, Russell Krupen and Conor Pewarski.

Twenty-three students qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and grades of 3 or higher on five or move of these exams. These students are John Adamo, Katherine Butler, Maura Casey, Michael Cohn, Morgan Corcoran, Mary Curtin, Andrew Daley, Katherine Furlong, Douglas Hard, Laura Kelly, Jason Kim, Alexander Knote, Cynthia Koncick, Russell Krupen, Stacey Leondis, Daniel Lundquist, Gregory Pando, Conor Pewarski, Kevin Rudolph, Mariel Smith, Brianne Sutton, Joseph Ward and Mary Winchurch.

Eighteen students qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. These students are Michael Breuer, Reid Brewer, William Champness, Matthew Ganas, Daniel Jabbour, Mark Matteini, Lawrence Minicone, Jacqueline Morano, Delia Mueller, Maria Papazicos, M. Milena Ricci, Andres Rodriquez, Melissa Ruhry, Marianne Spatz, Megan Sutcliffe, Molly Tittler, Robert Ungar and Brian Wyrenski.

Thirty-four students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP exams with grades of 3 or higher. The AP scholars are Emily Adams, Grace Aldridge, Allison Auer, James Bauer, Matthew Bliss, Amanda Cassese, Elizabeth Clarke, Patrice Collins, Mark DeBenedetto, Meghan Garvey, Stephanie Gee, Benjamin Ginsberg, Kristen Hammondskraff, Lauren Hopkins, Emily Kahoud, Kaitlin Kamrowski, James Kannengieser, John Kasnicki, Patrick Kelly, Rachael Kelly, John Kennedy, Margaret Lindsay, Katherine Mo, Natasha Petiton, Robert Ponzo, Xania Saldana, Peter Schrafel, Kristina Sieburg-Lee, Alexis Spina, Kathryn Tauches, Bryan Thomas, Stephen Vafier, Ryan Welch and Kristin Youngkin.

The designation of AP state scholar is granted to the one male and one female student in each US state and the District of Columbia with grades of 3 or higher on the greatest number of AP exams (at least three full-year course exams or the equivalent) and then the highest average grade (at least 3.5) on all AP exams taken.

Of this year's award recipients, five are juniors: Emily Kahoud, Kaitlin Kamrowski, John Kasnicki, Natasha Petiton and Peter Schrafel.

These students have at least one or more years in which to complete college-level work and possibly earn another Advanced Placement Award.

Most of the nation's colleges and universities award credit, advanced placement, or both, based on successful performance on the AP exams. More than 1,400 institutions award a full year's credit (sophomore standing) to students presenting a sufficient number of qualifying grades.

Thirty-four AP exams are offered in a wide variety of subjects areas, each consisting of multiple-choice and free-response (essay or problem-solving) questions (except for the Studio Art exam, which evaluates students' original artwork).

The College Board is a national nonprofit membership association whose mission is to prepare, inspire and connect student to college and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 4,300 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations.

Each year, the College Board serves over three million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools and 3,500 colleges through major programs and services in college admission, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs are the SAT(r), the PSAT/NMST(tm) and the Advanced Placement Program (AP).