When he signed up to take five AP classes last year, senior Tigran Nahabedian knew it would be a lot of work.
He knew there would be long nights and little down time. And he knew that his hard work would eventually pay off. But he had no idea he was on his way to reaching a standard that only a few students are able to achieve.
This past summer, Tigran was recognized as an AP Scholar with Distinction, the highest honor bestowed by the College Board in the Advanced Placement program.
“I just wanted to put myself to the test and achieve as much as I could,” said Tigran of his AP courses his junior year.
“Honestly, after I completed the tests, I didn’t really care what the results were,” Tigran added. “I felt like getting through that year was reward enough.”
In the summer of 2022, 11 Ojai Valley School students were recognized by the College Board as AP scholars for their performance on those exams throughout their high school careers.
To qualify as AP Scholars, students must earn scores of three or higher on at least three AP exams. Higher scores on more than three exams earn higher levels of achievement through the AP Scholar program. Three students were recognized as AP Scholars with Honors while two earned the programs highest honor as AP Scholars with Distinction.
This past summer, seniors Hyunng Choi, Sarita Guede-Hallock, Hannah Little and Logan Wallace were recognized as AP Scholars, as were junior Karin Hahn and alum Alden Koskoff, who graduated last year.
In addition, the College Board recognized seniors Eugene Fisher, Ella Schuette and Emanuel Zagata-Jacobsen as AP Scholars with Honor.
Finally, the College Board recognized Tigran and India Getty-Pruss with the highest honor of AP Scholars with Distinction.
Ojai Valley School Doug Colborn discussed the importance of taking AP classes.
“The best thing about taking an AP class is if you score high enough on the exam, not only can you bump your grade but you can also earn college credit which ultimately saves money,” he said.
As the youngest AP scholar, Karin Hahn said she didn’t even know the award existed when she started taking AP courses her sophomore year.
Karin dedicated a lot of time to her AP studies. Not only was she looking to challenge herself, she thoroughly enjoyed the classes she took and found them all interesting.
“I was already happy that I passed all three exams,” Karin said, “so hearing that I got the [AP Scholar] award was kind of like the cherry on top.”