​Maria Regina Student Honored Twice By College Board

HARTSDALE, NY — When a high school student earns a College Board Scholar Award for excellence in academic achievement, that recognition is cause for celebration by itself. But, in the case of Ariel Pennington-Reyes of Yonkers, a junior at Maria Regina High School, she had the distinction recently of being awarded not once but twice by the College Board for the prestigious citation.

Pennington-Reye captured both the 2021-2022 National African-American Recognition Program Scholar Award and the National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar Award.

Maria Regina Principal Maria R. Carozza-McCaffrey, Class of '99, said that Pennington-Reye was among the top 2.5 percent of scorers nationwide to receive an invitation to apply for both awards.

“She was also just over 1 percent of the students qualifying for the NHRA who received commendation,” Carozza-McCaffrey explained. “For the NAARA score qualifications, one of which is a minimum 3.5 GPA, Ariel well surpassed the cutoff score of 1320. We are all very proud of Ariel’s stellar College Board achievements.”

The academically top-performing student also completed an internship program this past summer with New York State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins.