By Carina George and Caroline Low
Taking AP, and Advance Placement classes is already difficult enough, but Brandon Rosengren, Fernanda Vargas Velazquez and Wesley Geldersma were just three out of the ten students in Guyer that were able to exceed expectations. These seniors were awarded AP scholars on Nov.15 at the Stephen’s administration building. AP scholars means that they had gotten a three or higher on three or more AP exams, a feat that less than 10% of people nationwide could accomplish. AP classes are college level and the tests are given by an organization named College Board. Passing the AP test rewards students with college credit.
To be an AP scholar, one would think that there is little to no free time for students, but that couldn’t be further from the truth for Brandon. He is able to participate in student council, varsity track, and varsity cross country, all while working hard at his job at Crumbl. His busy life didn’t keep him from doing well in school. Since he did outstanding on the PSAT, Brandon got commended. A few of the AP classes he has taken are Government, Macro Economics, BC Calculus, and English. Brandon plans to go to college at BYU or A&M and become an airplane pilot. His advice for people taking AP classes is to “Stay on top of things and don’t wait until the last minute to complete work.”
Fernanda also stays busy as the president of National Art Honors Society, vice president of GSA club, and a member of LULAC. A few AP classes she has taken are AP Literature, Europe history, art, economics, and government. Her most difficult classes were AP economics and although tedious, she believes AP art was the easiest. When comparing AP classes to honors and regular, Fernanda describes AP as “a class that expects you to have a deeper understanding. Not just what happened but also why.” She also says that the course is more fast paced. Fernanda wants to go to college at UNT. The advice Fernanda gives to students studying for an AP test is to, “read notes, watch videos, and look back over previous lessons.”
As someone who enjoys going to school, hard work is not a problem for Wesley. The most challenging part of taking a lot of AP classes for him is all the cramming he has to do. Although studying takes a lot of his time Wesley still says, “I’m happy my hard work paid off.” Wesley has taken several AP classes such as AP English, Government, and Statistics. He got accepted into the Biology program at UT Austin. Like Brandon, Wesley had also gotten commended on his PSAT. Wesley studies weekly for his AP classes to maintain good grades. The biggest challenge for him is balancing school life and fun, but is still able to spend his free time as a boy scout, playing video games, basketball, and watching movies with friends. Because of his excellent grades, Wesley was given the opportunity to become a member of NHS. When asked why he chose to take such difficult classes, Wesley responded, “I consider myself a high achiever. I like to challenge myself and getting college credit is also a great benefit.”
The path to becoming an AP scholar is not easy, and these students are a great example for a guide to success. They set large goals for themselves and always aim to accomplish them. These individuals are proof of the well known saying that hard work really does pay off.
