Education News: Belfast AP Scholars; Darling Center ecologist wins award
Belfast students earn AP Scholar Awards
BELFAST — Sixteen students at Belfast Area High School have earned AP Scholar Awards in recognition of their exceptional achievement on AP Exams.
The College Board's Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) provides willing and academically prepared students with the opportunity to take rigorous college-level courses while still in high school, and to earn college credit, advanced placement, or both for successful performance on the AP Exams. About 22 percent of the 2.2 million students worldwide who took AP Exams performed at a sufficiently high level to also earn an AP Scholar Award.
The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on students' performance on AP Exams.
Six students qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams. These students are Romy Carpenter, Emma Moesswilde, Michael J. Schnetzer, Ari Snider, Autumn Stupca, and Douglas Wich.
One student qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. This student is Aidan Ripley.
Nine students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP Exams with scores of 3 or higher. The AP Scholars are Grace Bagley, Kameron Culbertson, Nicholas Fortin, Cassandra Howard, William Hyland, Jennifer Knight, Catherine McGinn, Ethan Merrifield, and Evan Schweikert.
Of this year's award recipients at Belfast Area High School, five are currently seniors: Grace Bagley, Kameron Culbertson, William Hyland, Catherine McGinn, and Aidan Ripley.
These students have at least one more year in which to complete college-level work and possibly earn a higher-level AP Scholar Award.
Through 34 different college-level courses and exams, AP provides willing and academically prepared students with the opportunity to earn college credit or advanced placement and stand out in the college admission process. Each exam is developed by a committee of college and university faculty and AP teachers, ensuring that AP Exams are aligned with the same high standards expected by college faculty at some of the nation's leading liberal arts and research institutions.
More than 3600 colleges and universities annually receive AP scores. Most four-year colleges in the United States provide credit and/or advanced placement for qualifying exam scores. Research consistently shows that AP students who score a 3 or higher on AP Exams (based on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest) typically experience greater academic success in college and have higher college graduation rates than students who do not participate in AP.
The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of more than 6,000 of the world's leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education.
Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success — including the SAT® and the Advanced Placement Program. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators and schools.
UMaine ecologist joins role models as Mercer Award recipient
WALPOLE — A University of Maine marine scientist has won a prestigious award for publishing an outstanding ecological research paper before the age of 40.
Douglas Rasher, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maine Darling Marine Center in Walpole, received the Mercer Award at the 99th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) in Sacramento, California.
Rasher joins influential scientists, and some of his role models — E.O. Wilson, Jane Lubchenco, Robert MacArthur and Joseph Connell — as a recipient of the award.
"Over the past half-century, many well-known ecologists received this award for publishing what are now considered 'classic' papers," Rasher says. "These studies shaped who I am as a scientist and how I view the natural world. That makes receiving this award very personal and special to me."
Rasher was chosen the recipient of the 2014 Mercer Award for his eye-opening study on Fiji's coral reefs that provided insight into management and conservation of coral reefs.
He was a graduate student at Georgia Institute of Technology when he conducted the research that demonstrated diverse grazing fish are essential to keep coral reefs clean and free of harmful seaweeds that quickly outcompete baby corals for space on the reef. Clean reefs, he found, are healthy reefs and are better able to recover from hurricanes and other disturbances. Ecology published the study online in June 2013.
The Mercer Award, which has been presented annually since 1948, is named in honor of George Mercer, a young ecologist killed in World War II. The ESA gives the award to remind itself and the public about contributions of early-career ecologists.
Bob Steneck, professor of marine ecology and biology at UMaine, said some awards are for a lifetime of achievements -- for a job well done. "Others are bellwethers of great things to come," he says. "The Ecological Society of America's Mercer Award is clearly in the later camp."
Rasher says he pursued funding for a position at UMaine, in general, and the Darling Center, in particular, because it would enable him to work with Steneck, whom he calls a "world-class scientist," as well as to study "one of today's most pressing environmental issues."
Rasher's awarding-winning research paper, "Consumer diversity interacts with prey defenses to drive ecosystem function," may be read at http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/12-0389.1
About the Darling Marine Center:
The Darling Marine Center is the marine laboratory of the University of Maine. It is located on the Damariscotta River Estuary in Maine's midcoast region, 100 miles south of the Orono campus. Resident faculty and students are associated with UMaine's School of Marine Sciences. Their research interests range from biogeochemistry, remote sensing and ocean optics to invertebrate taxonomy and ecology, deep-sea biology, phytoplankton physiology and marine archaeology.
