During the Monday, October 23, 2023 regular meeting of the South-Western City School District Board of Education, 95 students were recognized for their exemplary academic achievement as the result of their work on Advanced Placement (AP) assessments, the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship qualifying test, and/or College Credit Plus/Associate’s Degree achievement from the 2022-2023 school year.
Dr. Erik Shuey, Executive Director of High Schools, presided over the presentation Monday night in recognition of the College Board National Recognition Programs and conferred as an extension of the District’s recognition of these outstanding students.
A bit more about the assessments, programs, and student honorees.
The Advanced Placement Scholar Program
The Advanced Placement (AP) Scholar Program offers several AP Scholar Awards annually to recognize high school students who have demonstrated college-level achievement through AP courses and exams. In addition to receiving an award certificate, this achievement is acknowledged on any AP score report that is sent to colleges the following fall. The South-Western City School District recognizes 65 AP students who earned a AP Scholar Recognitions. Additionally, SWCSD students earned more than $555,000 in college credits through Advanced Placement opportunities last year.
The AP Scholar Award recipients earn recognition as a recipient of one of the following categories: AP Scholars, AP Scholars with Honor and AP Scholars with Distinction.
For the 2022-2023 school yearthe following students from SWCSD have been recognized as:
AP Scholars
| Fardowsa Abdulle | Westland High School |
| Benjamin Adams | Grove City High School |
| Emma Babcock | Grove City High School |
| Savannah Brown | Central Crossing High School |
| Jonathan Eschbach | Grove City High School |
| Susan Franco | Franklin Heights HIgh School |
| Anton Gagliardi | Grove City High School |
| Audrey Gaines | Central Crossing High School |
| Ezekiel Gibson | Grove City High School |
| Mia Goard | Central Crossing High School |
| Danica Harbin | Grove City High School |
| Alex Hernandez | Central Crossing High School |
| Samuel Hurd | Grove City High School |
| Fanta Kaba | Central Crossing High School |
| Samuel Kinney | Grove City High School |
| Nathan Linn | Grove City High School |
| Kara Loomis | Grove City High School |
| Kinsale McKinley | Grove City High School |
| Temidayo Obayemi | Franklin Heights HIgh School |
| Jovany Olguin-Acevedo | Westland High School |
| Ivon Ongayo | Franklin Heights HIgh School |
| Sergio Ornelas | Westland High School |
| Zara Ramirez Martinez | Central Crossing High School |
| Jaquelin Rebollar Pedraza | Franklin Heights HIgh School |
| Mason Roberts | Grove City High School |
| Rachel Robertson | Westland High School |
| John Roth | Grove City High School |
| Montana Runser | Franklin Heights HIgh School |
| Reagan Schumacher | Westland High School |
| Nicholas Sciance | Westland High School |
| Grady Speegle | Grove City High School |
| Marissa Young | Central Crossing High School |
AP Scholars with Honors
| Andrew Ackerman | Westland High School |
| Wyatt Briggeman | Grove City High School |
| Hannah Bruno | Westland High School |
| Isaac Carter | Grove City High School |
| Alexia Christenson | Central Crossing High School |
| Daniel Conant | Franklin Heights HIgh School |
| Gabrielle Davis | Grove City High School |
| Abigail France | Central Crossing High School |
| Yuriy Gorobchuk | Central Crossing High School |
| Lukas Greer | Central Crossing High School |
| Caleb Manwiller | Westland High School |
| Camden Miller | Grove City High School |
| Regan Mitchell | Grove City High School |
| Caroline Mulumba | Central Crossing High School |
| Daniel Neeley | Grove City High School |
| Katherine Northrup | Central Crossing High School |
| Nidhi Patel | Grove City High School |
| Connor Pfeiffer | Grove City High School |
| Liana Plachkova | Grove City High School |
| Ruth Semchishin | Central Crossing High School |
| Benjamin Stoneking | Central Crossing High School |
| Mathew Wheeler | Central Crossing High School |
| Evan Young | Grove City High School |
AP Scholars with Distinction
| Rohit Basu | Grove City High School |
| Collin Crosier | Westland High School |
| Thomas Emhuff | Westland High School |
| David Funk | Grove City High School |
| Steven Jordan | Grove City High School |
| Brady Lehman | Grove City High School |
| Abdullah Murib | Grove City High School |
| Andrew Vo | Grove City High School |
| Jimmy Xiao | Grove City High School |
| Kaiden Yowell | Grove City High School |
The National Merit Student Recognition Program
The National Merit Student Recognition is presented annually to high school students based on scores earned from qualifying exam results.
Each year approximately 1,500,000 high school juniors planning to enter college take the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship qualifying test, and of those students, 50,000 high scorers are selected based on index scores (the sum of critical reading, mathematics, and writing skills scores). After those scores are calculated, 34,000 of those 50,000 are recognized as commended students for their outstanding academic promise. And, of the 34,000 commended students, 16,000 are selected as national merit semifinalists based on earning the highest scores in their respective states.
For the 2022-2023 school year, the following students from SWCSD have been recognized as:
National Merit Commended Students:
| Caroline Mulumba | Central Crossing High School |
| John Roth | Grove City High School |
| Brett Wagner | Central Crossing High School |
National Merit Semi-finalists:
| Rohit Basu | Grove City High School |
| Jonathan Eschbach | Grove City High School |
New College Board Recognition Programs
The College Board has four recognition programs to award academic honors to underrepresented students:
- National African American Recognition Program,
- National Hispanic Recognition Program,
- National Indigenous Recognition Program and
- National Rural and Small Town Recognition Program
The academic honors for rural area, Black, Indigenous, and/or Latino students are an opportunity for students to share their strong academic achievements with colleges and scholarship programs that are seeking to recruit diverse talent.
To qualify, students must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- Must have a 3.5 GPA or higher at the time they are submitting the application. Both weighted and unweighted GPAs are considered.
- Must have permanent address in the United States, a United States Territory, US military base or attend a Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) school. U.S. citizenship is not required.
- Must identify as African American, Hispanic, Indigenous, or attend high school in a rural area or small town.
- Sophomores must have taken the PSAT/NMSQT in Fall 2022 OR at least two distinct AP Exams in 8th or 9th grade.
- Juniors must have taken the PSAT 10 in Spring 2021 OR the PSAT/NMSQT in Fall 2022 OR at least two distinct AP exams in 8th, 9th or 10th grade.
- Sophomores and juniors are score eligible if they score in the top 10% on the PSAT/NMSQT or PSAT 10 within program by state
- Sophomores and juniors are also score eligible if they score a 3 or higher on two or more distinct AP Exams in the eligible exam periods.
For the 2022-2023 school year, the following students from SWCSD have been recognized as:
National African American Recognition Award recipients
| Muzamil Aden | Franklin Heights HIgh School |
| Desmond Carroll | Central Crossing High School |
| Hamdi Hassan | Central Crossing High School |
| Gavrielle Hottenstein | Central Crossing High School |
| Oluwabusayo Jimoh | Franklin Heights HIgh School |
| Caroline Mulumba | Central Crossing High School |
| Joseph Mulumba | Central Crossing High School |
| Juan Valle Nieto | Westland High School |
| Dominique Wilkins | Central Crossing High School |
National Hispanic Recognition Award recipients
| Michael Chamah-Clarkson | Grove City High School |
| Yuridia Rebollar Pedraza | Franklin Heights HIgh School |
College Credit Plus & Associate Degree Recognitions
During the 2021-2022 school year, 850 SWCSD students took 2790 college courses, earning 7630 college credits.
Assuming the average course is 3 college credits and each college credit averages $500, this saved SWCSD families an estimated $3.8 million in tuition costs and approximately $150,000-$200,000 in textbook costs.
Additionlly, the South-Western City School District is proud to recognize the 14 outstanding students (listed below) who, last year and over the summer, earned their Associate’s Degree by participating in SWCSD College Credit Plus opportunities:
| Michael Basenback | Grove City High School |
| Anthony Brown | Westland High School |
| Skylar Cash | Westland High School |
| Belle Collins | Central Crossing High School |
| Magdolna Herrick | Grove City High School |
| Isabella Hughes | Westland High School |
| Jacob Kline | Grove City High School |
| Abril Martinez | Grove City High School |
| Alberta Nomo | Westland High School |
| Ireland Plott | Westland High School |
| Laykin Sigman | Grove City High School |
| Aziah Toles | Westland High School |
| Cameron Vawter | Grove City High School |
| Brooke Vehorn | Grove City High School |
Congratulations to all of these students whose hard work the District is proud to recognize!
SW Insider 