Congratulations!!!!!!

Gainesville High Students
Claim Big Share of National Awards

Press release from Jackie Johnson, ACPS Public Information Officer
December 4, 2009

One in ten of the nation’s top performers on a rigorous college level examination is from Gainesville High School.
Thirty-nine current and just-graduated GHS students have been named winners of Cambridge Scholar Awards, which recognize the exceptional performance of students on the Cambridge International Examinations.
The awards were recently announced by the University of Cambridge International Examinations (UCIE) organization, which is a part of the prestigious University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Only 368 students in the U.S. earned the awards this year, meaning GHS captured 11% of the awards given out nationwide.
“Congratulations to the students at Gainesville High School for earning 39 of these scholar awards,” wrote CIE representative Sherry Reach in an e-mail message to Bunnie James, GHS’ Cambridge coordinator. “Your faculty and staff are also to be commended.”
The number of award winners at Gainesville High is up dramatically from six students in 2008. That was the year the school graduated the first set of students who had spent all four years in the challenging Cambridge program.
Coordinator Bunnie James says the program continues to grow, with more courses being added and a record number of students.
“The number of highly motivated and intellectually talented students joining the Cambridge program each year has continued to increase,” she said. “The class entering this year was the largest yet, with close to one hundred students.”
The Cambridge program offers students the opportunity to take rigorous courses and exams to receive college credit and advanced standing at colleges and universities. To earn the Cambridge Scholar Awards, the students earned high scores on the Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) exams that were given in June.
“Our students graduate from GHS with extensive knowledge and application skills, a highly developed ability to communicate, and advanced academic preparation that will enable them to be extremely successful in college and in the workplace,” said James.
“Gainesville High can be very proud of this achievement,” said Superintendent Dan Boyd. “Clearly the school is providing an outstanding education that’s preparing these top students for success in college.”
Current GHS students who won the Cambridge Scholar Awards include: Margaret Dunn, Cameron Chung, Weston Bryant, Lindsay Avila, Ryan Sagul, Cortney Powers, Zoe Muzyczka, Miriam Mosher, Jessica Pu, Greta Pallack, Taylor Howard, Beorn Wagner and Daniel Wagner. GHS 2009 graduates who earned the award include: Jonathan Berry, Tyler Smith, Alyssa Henry, Matthew Huber, Hannah Kurdila, Catherine Levey, Kyle McCormick, Lexie Miller, Kathryn Moldawer, Melanie Quested, Alison Shutterly, Samantha Smith, Kelly Spradling, Cynthia Sterling, Mason Williams, Kyle Willis, Sana Zafar, Sarah Beebe, Ryan Kirkconnell, Genavieve Adams, Isabelle McCullough, Michael Bird, Sean Clark, Jessica Fickett, Alexander Fox and John Jamison.