A Record Number 230 DMPS Students Honored as AP Scholars
Two hundred and thirty Des Moines students earned Advanced Placement Scholar honors from the College Board, it was announced today, the most ever recognized at Iowa’s largest school district. In fact, the number of AP Scholars this year at DMPS is a 21% increase over the previous record set last year.
East, Hoover, Lincoln, North and Roosevelt high schools were all represented among the honorees.
“The success of these students is an inspiration, and their accomplishments in the classroom are testament to their talent and intelligence as well as to the great teachers and educational opportunities available to all of our students here in Des Moines,” said Superintendent Tom Ahart.
Among the 230 students are 16 recognized as AP National Scholars. To earn the prestigious AP National Scholar Award a student must take eight or more AP exams and receive a score of four or higher (on a scale of 1-5) on each exam. Recipients of the AP National Scholar Award for the 2013-14 school year, and the college they are attending, are:
East High School
- Breanna Elscott – Iowa State University
- Margaret Long – Simpson College
Hoover High School
- Ryan Utke – Grinnell College
Lincoln High School
- Avery Dempsey – Northwestern University
- Paige Harper – University of Iowa
- Nicholas Parker – University of Iowa
Roosevelt High School
- Edel Aron – Iowa State University
- Samuel Au – Iowa State University
- Granger Carty – Williams College
- Harry Crane – currently a senior at Roosevelt
- Connor Gillette – US Naval Academy
- Julianna Hauri – Bowdoin College
- Sophia Hetherington – Iowa State University
- Patrick Hiatt – University of Iowa
- Max Pilcher – University of Iowa
- Reid Wade – Cornell University
State of Iowa AP Scholar Edel Aron
In addition to the 16 AP National Scholars, 63 Des Moines students were recognized as AP Scholars with Distinction, 26 as AP Scholars with Honor, and 125 as AP Scholars. Since 1991, 2,624 DMPS students have earned AP Scholars awards, including 322 AP National Scholars.
Each year the College Board also names one male and one female State AP Scholar to recognize the students with the highest overall average score on Advanced Placement exams. This year both honorees attended DMPS.
The female State AP Scholar for Iowa is Edel Aron, a 2014 Roosevelt High School graduate now attending Iowa State University. The male State AP Scholar for Iowa is Maxwell Pilcher, a 2014 Roosevelt High School graduate now attending the University of Iowa.
Since 1991, 36 of the 46 students receiving the State AP Scholar for Iowa Award have taken AP classes Des Moines Public Schools.
State of Iowa AP Scholar Maxwell Pilcher
Over the past few years DMPS has made significant expansions in the Advanced Placement courses offered at both Central Academy as well all five of the district’s comprehensive high schools as each now provides a full range of AP courses in social studies, science, English, mathematics, world language, and the fine arts.
As a result, over the past four years, enrollment in AP courses has increased 339%, participation in the AP exam has increased 149%, and the number of students earning a college-credit score of 3 or higher on AP exams has increased 47%.
Last year, for the second year in a row, all five comprehensive high schools in Des Moines were listed on the Iowa AP Index released by the Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa, and Central Academy continued to be the top-ranked AP program in the state.
The College Board, which administers the Advanced Placement program, annually releases the AP Scholars list for each school district following the results of the Spring Advanced Placement testing. The College Board’s mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. In addition to the Advanced Placement program, its programs include the SAT college entrance exam and the PSAT/NMSQ. Additional information regarding the Advanced Placement Program is available at www.collegeboard.com.
