College Board honors LISD success in AP courses with a ceremony at Vista Ridge on Nov. 16, following a day of filming on campus.
“There are a few factors that impressed College Board, including our participation, the number of kids in AP courses, and our results,” AP Spanish teacher Joe Haus said. “We do pretty well compared to other school districts, so I think we’re just an example of a school that is doing it right.”
College Board spent a week filming schools in the district, including Vandegrift, to compile footage into a video highlighting the AP program. Teachers, such as Haus, volunteered their classes to be filmed on Nov. 15.
“It was a little weird to be filmed,” junior Ryann Wager said. “I was unsure whether I should smile, look at the camera, or just pretend they’re not there.”
According to Haus, College Board visits high schools around the nation yearly, creating an opportunity to highlight the success of districts that have excelled at the implementation of the AP program.
“College board asked us to share some students who we thought would do well and felt comfortable being interviewed on camera,” Haus said. “We chose students who were probably not just taking one AP class, but others as well.”
As part of the Vista Ridge ceremony, AP teachers selected five students each to partake in the celebration and potentially be chosen for an interview by College Board.
“AP courses are a lot of work for students but also a lot of work for teachers because we have to go to special training and the level of preparation is higher than an on-level course,” Haus said. “There’s also the stress of the exams because we want students to do well, so it’s nice to have a chance to pause and celebrate like athletes who are just getting pumped up for a game.”
The trip included a welcome by cheer, dance, and band, before a ceremony in the Vista Ridge Auditorium, taking place from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM.
“The College Board visit allows students to show their best side, so I think there’s some pride involved with it,” Haus said. “I think the big payoff will be when we can see ourselves presented to a national audience. It will definitely be a proud moment for the district.”
The assembly highlighted the facets of the AP program in LISD, featuring speakers from College Board, such as the Head of the AP Program, Trevor Packer.
“It was a unique experience because it wasn’t just information being passed down from the people in charge, to the district, to the teachers and then to the students, instead it was coming directly from the President of College Board,” junior Iglesias said. “It was really interesting to see him as a real person, rather than a mythical beast we had never seen before.”
At the culmination of the ceremony, LISD was announced as the 2023 AP Large District of the Year, receiving a $10,000 check.
“Finding out that LISD was named College Board District of the year was a very cool experience,” junior Akshay Vu said. “It made me feel that all the hard work that we as students put into our AP classes has paid off.”
Haus attributes part of the school’s success with the AP program to be the high encouragement of all students to participate in AP courses, not just students looking to apply to competitive colleges.
“I think that, in my class in particular, we have lots of typical AP students, ones that are going to take other AP classes, but I think we’ve also got some students that may not have taken another AP class before,” Haus said. “I’m proud of the fact that we’ve got that reputation that our counselors are doing a good job of explaining that AP is not just for high flying students [or] students who are going to apply to really hard colleges, but it’s for everybody.”
By allowing students to fulfill general credit courses required by colleges, the AP program in LISD has saved students an estimated $8,057,490, allowing them to graduate faster and with less of a financial burden.
“I think that we have a great support system here,” Iglesias said. “No matter how hard the AP class is, the teachers always want you to do well, and they really care about what they’re teaching and they want to share that passion with you as well.”
