School Notebook: Ward Melville Student Achieves Perfect AP Score

Ward Melville Student Achieves Perfect AP Score

More than 94,000 students across the world took the College Board's Advanced Placement Calculus BC exam, and 17 of those students achieved a perfect score. In 2012 Ward Melville junior Harrison Li was one of those 17 students, scoring all possible 108 points and earning a "5" on the test – equivalent to an A. AP exams are designed and scored by college professors from around the world; perfect scores are a rare occurrence.

Alumni Return Home to Share College Insights

At Ward Melville's annual Alumni Day, 65 recent graduates returned to their alma mater in December to share their experiences at college with current students.

The topics of discussion were wide-ranging, for instance touching on the topic of expanding horizons at school. "When I was at Ward Melville, I was involved with the newspaper. But now in college, I have branched out to the radio side of reporting and am really enjoying that,” said Leanna O'Brien, now a freshman at the University of South Carolina.

Another alumnus, James Ninia, described his experiences with college professors. "Your professors tend to go off topic during class, but as they are experts in the field, it is often to share insight into their research," he said.

Eighth Grader Wins Geography Bee

Shane McHugh, an 8th grader at Gelinas Junior High, has been crowned the winner of the school's geography bee. The winning question? "The former capital city of Almaty is located south of Lake Balkhash in which Asian country?” – the answer for which, of course, was Kazakhstan.

"I really enjoy geography,” he said. “I associate the different items – landmarks, mountains – with things in everyday life, and that helps me to remember them better. I tend to have a knack for remembering small details.”

McHugh now advances to compete at the state level of the National Geographic Bee.