Lemont Boasts School Record Five National AP Scholars

LEMONT, IL — For the first time in school history, a Lemont High School student earned National AP Scholar accolades prior to graduating. Senior Martynas Juskelis is one of a school-record five students to earn the top honor awarded by the College Board for performance on the college-level Advanced Placement exams. Recent graduates Mira Antonopoulos, Michael Cottrell, Marius Mereckis and James Sliwa all were cited as National AP Scholars as well.

LHS said 89 of its students earned AP Scholar Award honors from the College Board in 2017, the second-highest total in school history. The College Board’s AP Program offers students the opportunity to take challenging college-level courses while still enrolled in high school in order to receive college credit, advanced placement at the college level or both based on their performance on the AP exams. The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on students’ performance on the AP exams throughout their high school careers.

According to LHS, a record 760 AP exams were administered to LHS students in 2017, and a record 70.0 percent of those exams resulted in scores of 3 or better. The school’s highest success rates, which is defined as the percentage of students scoring 3 or better, were in AP Macroeconomics (93.3 percent), AP Chemistry (90.0 percent), AP U.S. Government & Politics (88.9 percent), AP U.S. History (88.9 percent) and AP Microeconomics (86.2 percent).

A record 463 Lemont students took at least one AP exam in 2017, and 68.9 percent of them recorded at least one score of 3 or better.

In order to be named a National AP Scholar, students must earn an average score of 4.00 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of the exams they took. Now a freshman at the University of Michigan, Sliwa averaged 4.67 on 12 exams, which included 5’s on eight exams. Antonopoulos, a freshman at Indiana University, averaged 4.63 on eight exams and earned 5’s on five exams. Cottrell, a freshman at DePaul University, earned three 5’s while averaging 4.33 on nine exams. A freshman at Case Western Reserve University, Mereckis averaged 4.10 on 10 exams, earning six 5’s. Juskelis has posted 5’s on three exams and averaged 4.33 on nine exams so far, and is enrolled in three more AP classes as a senior, according to the release.

LHS said a total of 21 students — including 13 Class of 2017 graduates and eight current seniors — qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of the exams they took. The graduates include Devin Becker, Abigail Dasbach, Sarah Hagen, Natasha Joseph, Matas Maleiska, Claudia Mayer, Shannon O’Donnell, Michelle Perini, Kevin Phelan, Siena Schuth, Zachary Swartz and Kevin Tuscher. Current senior honorees include Brianna Carlson, Lily Goodman, Reece Graham, Brandon Mayer, Alexander Paulius, Arjun Reddigari, Joshua Reitz and Angelina Wilton. Eight students earned AP Scholar with Distinction Awards as juniors, the most in school history.

A school-record 22 individuals — 10 graduates and 12 current seniors — qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of the exams they took, according to LHS. Those honorees included graduates Jordan Brown, Kristin Burke, Claudia Jazowski, Jacob Kecki, Faraz Longi, Natalie McCastland, Addison Moran, Christopher Paulius, Luke Pawlak and Gianna Tunzi; and current seniors Beata Drozda, Anna Ford, Alexandra Galica, Trevor Graham, Natalie Hartl, Sean Haughey, Tyler Hill, Andrew Licata, Zachary McFarland, Konrad Skotnicki, Aaron Swenson and Kendrick Tran.

According to the school, a total of 41 students — including 13 current seniors and one current junior — qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP Exams with scores of 3 or higher. Included among those honorees are graduates Jonathan Basiorka, Armand Cantu, Gillian Connolly, Chris Diviero, Zachary Heatherington, Kurtis Huegelmann, Steven Irace, Grant Jobe, Daniel Kwiatkowski, Alexander Machaj, Rahil Makadia, Lukas Malakauskas, Kyle Marks, Christian Mietus, Heather Miller, Melissa Moravek, Kevin Papiernik, Nathan Podgorak, Matas Rasikas, James Roe, Allyson Smith, Martinas Stanys, Wesley Tan, Joseph Theodore, Lauren Totura, Amanda Villareal and Matthew Waynick. Current seniors Ashley Belsan, Nathaniel Blanco, Melissa Danilov, Makayla Hendry, Michelle Hryc, Anthony Kostrubala, Jana Lacanlale, Paul O’Leary, Lauren Pengiel, Saher Rashid, Julie Stanwyck, Nathan Stieber and Easton Tally also were cited, as was current junior Kirsten Kash.

LHS said of the 89 honorees, 26 were recognized by the College Board for the second time in as many years. Antonopoulos, Hagen, Maleiska, Claudia Mayer, Sliwa and Tuscher all had received AP Scholar with Distinction honors in 2016; they were the first Lemont High School students to do so as juniors since 2008. Becker, Joseph, Kecki, Christopher Paulius, Perini and Swartz received AP Scholar with Honor distinction as juniors in 2016, while Alexander Paulius did so that year as a sophomore. Basiorka, Cottrell, Dasbach, Heatherington, Jazowski, Longi, Mereckis, O’Donnell, Phelan and Rasikas were tabbed with AP Scholar Award accolades as juniors in 2016, while Hill, Juskelis and Brandon Mayer earned that honor as sophomores.

Lemont High School currently offers 18 AP courses ­– AP Biology, AP Calculus BC, AP Chemistry, AP English Language & Composition, AP English Literature & Composition, AP Environmental Science, AP Human Geography, AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, AP Music Theory, AP Physics I, AP Physics II, AP Psychology, AP Spanish Language & Composition, AP Statistics, AP U.S. Government & Politics, AP U.S. History and AP World History.

Photo provided by Lemont High School.