AP Scholar is an award given by the College Board to students who passed a set
number of AP Exams in May. The awards include three categories, AP Scholars, AP Scholars
With Honor, and AP Scholar With Distinction. The school also recognized the AP High Fivers.

The event was organized by the Matador Scholar Association (MSA). MSA planned the
program, as well as sold food, created posters, and purchased cords for the students. The
doors to the event opened at 5:30pm, with a warm welcome from the La Mirada High School
Jazz Band. The band passionately performed until 6pm when the program started. AP/Regular
Chemistry teacher and MSA Advisor, Ann Kwon welcomed the audience and showed
appreciation for their arrival. She was followed by MSA Executive President, Gabriela Cruz, who
gave a speech regarding just how massive of an accomplishment being an AP Scholar was.
Cruz then welcomed the highest ranking AP Scholar, Elena Garcia. Garcia received a 5 on five
different exams, these exams included English Language Composition, United States History,
Psychology, Biology, and Calculus. Garcia presented to the audience what exactly it meant to
be an AP Scholar, and the hard work that all students being recognized put in. College and
Career Counselor Maya Hamilton and Assistant Principal Janice Kroupa all gave speeches as
well on behalf of the students and their bright future.

The first set of students were the AP High Fivers. These students received recognition
for earning a 5 on one or more exams. The award was given to Joy An, Kenneth Ang, Gabriel
Arellano, Jimmy Arellano, Harneet Bains, Hannah Cantrell, Aaron Castro, Adam Charles, Brian
Dang, Jirah Domingo, Owen Drossler, Laden Escalante, Elena Garcia, JiHoo Han, Hubert Jang,
Colin Khoang, Jachin Lee, Riku Maldonado, Alexander Mizuo, Jose Mora, Noah Ontiveros,
Tommy Park, Rebekah Pittle, Yased Puentes, Emiliano Ramirez, Kaitlyn Ronald, Joaquin
Ruvalcaba, Daphne Santos, Emily Velasco, and Coi Villanueva.

Next, the AP Scholars were recognized. The AP Scholar award is given to students who
received a 3 or higher on three exams. The award was given to Harneet Bains, Alexander
Colocho, Isabella Coronel, Owen Drossler, Aaron Eom, Laden Escalante, Isaiah Espinoza,
Diego Falcon-Vassallo, Derek Franco, Emily Gang, Sean Gomez, Allyian Guloy, JiHoo Han,
Robyn Heggstrom, Faith Kim, Shane Murphy, Yased Puentes, Mathew Rah, Kevin Rama,
Carlos Vaca, and Antonio Vasquez.

The AP Scholar with Honor award was given next. This award is given to students who
averaged a score of 3.25 on four exams. The award was given to Gabriel Arellano, Adam
Charles, Gabriela Cruz, Brian Dang, Rebecca Eckart, Colin Khoang, Alexander Mizuo, Hoang
Nguyen, Issac Pittle, Daphnie Santos, and Aiden Shin.

Finally, the AP Scholar with Distinction award was given last. This award is given to
students who averaged a score of 3.5 on five or more exams. The award was given to Kenneth
Ang, Hannah Cantrell, Meghan Dewey, Jirah Domingo, Elena Garcia, Alyssa Montoya, and
Kaitlyn Ronald.