Ciarra Hodges, a senior at Berkmar High School

On May 2, Berkmar High School of Lilburn, Ga., was honored with one of three Inspiration Awards from the College Board. The school, which has a diverse enrollment of more than 2,700 students, is committed to developing the academic talent of its students.

More than half of the student body filled the gymnasium to celebrate the high school's honorable achievement. Also attending were Gwinnett County Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks, and Gwinnett County School Board Representative Louise Radloff. The ceremony was led by Berkmar alumnus, Scott Johnson, a sophomore at the University of Georgia. Johnson attributed his current college success to the tools that he gained from Berkmar High School. Speeches were conducted by two outstanding Berkmar students, Chance Belcher, a senior who is president of Berkmar’s chorus and a member of the leadership team, and Ciarra Hodges, an honors student who is an active member of the Drama Department, step team and cheerleading squad. “I thank Berkmar for preparing me to be a young woman who is ready for college,” Hodges said.

Congratulatory remarks were given by College Board Vice President for Relationship Development Peter Negroni, who received an enormous round of applause by Berkmar students as they welcomed his encouraging words. “As soon as I stepped foot in this school, I knew it was a special place,” Negroni said.

Berkmar High School attributes much of its students’ academic achievements to the "stretch culture" initiative implemented by Principal Kendall Johnson. “I encourage teachers to develop talent, not identify it," said Johnson. Since Johnson has been principal, Berkmar has seen a major transition in student diversity and commendable growth in the amount of students taking AP® courses and passing AP Exams. Many students at Berkmar have been placed in AP courses because  their teachers have recognized their enormous potential.

The $25,000 awarded to Berkmar will be used to boost Berkmar's extensive efforts to guide and encourage students to realize the promise of higher education.

VP Jenny Krugman

In the College Board’s Southern Region — replete with programs, services, assessments and mission — we are our people. I’d like you to meet four of our best:

Michael Shackleford, retired from what seems like a lifetime in distinguished military service, is associate vice president for student affairs and enrollment management at Virginia State University. In his work, Michael creates an environment that allows the university to provide support services that enhance the educational experience of students. Michael’s reach is broad and deep, as he oversees his campus’s health services, resident life, counseling support, admissions staff, registrar’s office, graduate recruiting team and student activities leaders. Beyond his beloved institution, Michael is past chair of the College Board’s Southern Regional Council, where he led an agenda of equity and access for the 10 states that are part of our region. Pride in his twin grandchildren is at the
heart of Michael’s life. He leads all of us to higher planes.

New to the Southern team that serves our K-12 constituents, Stacey Copeland brings fervor and expertise to her College Board world. Most recently, Stacey specialized in online assessments and alignment of curriculum to national and state education standards. She also wrote core courses in Florida that supported a curriculum academy for at-risk students who blossomed academically under the intensive reading regimen that Stacey created. A devoted Florida State University graduate, Stacey will assist South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia districts as they create environments where all students have access to college opportunities.

Present chair of the Southern Regional Council, Libby Brookshire is a school counselor at Mississippi’s Biloxi High School. Raising her voice as our region’s leader, Libby has shown incredible determination in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when the size of the Biloxi High student body shrank from 1,200 to 800. That number has already rebounded to almost 1,100, with more expected to return after housing for Keesler AFB is constructed. As the AP coordinator at Biloxi High, Libby once more has the program running strong – even growing each school year. Her efforts on behalf of the regional council are tireless because Libby believes in the importance of the College Board’s programs in helping professionals who are trying to help their students.

Mathematicians abound in our regional office and on our council. One distinguished new voice is that of Becky Maria Patterson. On her way to a Ph.D., Becky is a critical theorist working toward helping our regional team better support underrepresented students. In the sciences, Becky is looking at gender; in some subject areas, Becky is looking at ethnicity. As a graduate research assistant, Becky enticed students into careers dedicated to science. This NASA scholarship winner did data analysis for the Department of Defense and the Department of Nuclear Energy. We welcome Becky’s critical work with most school districts in North Carolina and many Georgia.

2007-08 Siemens Award for Advanced Placement national winner Tianhui Cai

Tianhui Cai, from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., is one of two national winners of the 2007-08 Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement. Each national winner — one male, one female — receives a $5,000 scholarship. This year’s other national winner is Ashutosh Singhal, a senior at Holmdel High School in Holmdel, N.J.

These two national winners were selected from the 97 student winners (up to one female and one male in each state) who have been recognized for earning the greatest number of grades of 5 on at least two AP® Exams. One national teacher winner — Penny Smeltzer, an AP Statistics teacher at Westwood High School in Austin, Texas — was selected as the Siemens National AP Teacher of the Year and awarded $5,000 for her dedication to the AP Program — both inside and outside the classroom.

Tianhui will attend Harvard University in the fall, where she plans to study computer science and applied math. Students who take AP math and science courses generally challenge themselves at the highest level and gain an edge for their first year of college.
When asked whether the AP Program had influenced her choice of academic interest, she replied, “It has provided more breadth than depth. I liked math and computer science before the AP Program, but I learned more about the life sciences through it.”

Tianhui’s other interests and activities include traditional and computer graphics, Web design, playing the piano, volunteering at INOVA Fairfax Children's Hospital, and being part of her school’s computer team, math team and French honor society.

Each year, the Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement honor the top performing American high school students, teachers and high schools. Now in its 10th year, the Siemens Foundation, in partnership with the College Board, annually awards $2,000 scholarships to as many as 100 AP students in 50 states. The program also offers $1,000 awards to one AP math, science or technology teacher in each of the 50 states, and $1,000 grants to one high school in each state, for making significant strides in AP.

College Board President Gaston Caperton strongly supports the collaboration. “We are proud to partner with the Siemens Foundation in honoring these students who have excelled in college-level study while still in high school. Our partnership extends to the committed teachers who are the heart and soul of the AP Program and to the high schools that have provided students the opportunity to reach this outstanding level of achievement,” he said. “In a world of increasing global competition, it is essential that we develop the means to excel. The Siemens winners are setting an example for others throughout the country.”

Significant progress has been made on the National Math and Science Initiative since the recipients were announced last fall. A+ College Ready in Alabama, Kentucky Science and Technology Corp., and Virginia Advanced Study Strategies have selected the schools in their respective states that will make up the first cohort of this ambitious program designed to boost participation in the AP® Program. These three organizations were among seven recipients of NMSI grants of up to $13.2 million each to be used to provide training and incentive programs to teachers of AP courses and to increase enrollment and promote success among students over the next six years.

Participating schools will see large increases in the number of students enrolled in rigorous AP English, math and science courses beginning this fall. Teachers and administrators in these schools will participate over the summer in professional development designed to increase their capacity to help the much larger group of students who take AP courses succeed.

The selected schools in Alabama, Kentucky and Virginia are as follows: