Advanced Placement Information Night @ SHS

by Erik Meerbach, Director of Guidance – Sandwich High School

Following are my opening remarks at the Advanced Placement (AP) Information Night, held on February 10, 2015 at Sandwich High School. The accompanying Powerpoint can be viewed and downloaded here: AP Presentation, 2.10.15.  We encourage all families who were unable to attend AP Night to check out the presentation, and to be in touch with questions. @ emeerbach@sandwich.k12.ma.us

AP courses at Sandwich High School have no pre-requisites and are open enrollment for any student.  In conformance with the suggestions made by the College Board and strongly encouraged by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Sandwich High School has adopted an open enrollment policy in Advanced Placement courses.  We support the notion that all students have access to the enriched learning  environment of AP courses.  We have a shared belief in our school that all students can learn at a high level and capable of AP work if they are willing to put in the time and effort as schools across the country have successfully adopted similar policies.

We have recently expanded our number of AP offerings from 12 to  15and also have expanded 5 AP course offerings 

to include 10^th grade students for the first time in the fall of 2015.  The reason for this change is to stay competitive with other high achieving high schools in our area and to accommodate a growing need among our students that are AP ready and who are interested in broadening their AP experience.   Expanding AP offerings to grade 10 allow students to take more high level classes as juniors and seniors as well.  It is our responsibility to prepare Sandwich High School students not only for the rigor and challenges of competitive 4 year colleges, but also to receive students from the STEM Academy.

One of our top priorities at Sandwich High School is to prepare ourselves to receive our STEM students and provide them a seamless transition from the outstanding education they are receiving at STEM to a parallel commitment  to excellence at Sandwich High School. Sandwich High School has many students enrolling in highly competitive schools and tonight you will have an opportunity to hear from some of our students as well.

Personally, I like to hear about our students successes and I encourage all of my students to “think big” when it comes to higher education and a future career path.   I recently took some students to Harvard to demonstrate to our high achieving students that they are capable of getting into some of the most competitive schools in the country. We have members of the class of 2015 already admitted to Brown, Northeastern, Tufts and Babson to name a few.

These students have taken our AP courses and undoubtedly have prepared themselves for higher education through their AP experiences at Sandwich High School.   We will begin tonight’s presentation with an overview of AP and programming at Sandwich High School.  You will have the opportunity to hear from the department chairs from each discipline and from students who are currently taking some of our AP courses.  We will then have a general Q & A followed by table top discussions with our department heads.

And an update following AP Night from Dr. Booras, principal – SHS

• Attendance at AP Info Night was about 120.
• Excellent student presentations from Katherine Dunham, Emma Dempsey, Matt Dahl, Ben Defendorf,  and Joanna O’ Gorman.
• Parents had opportunity to learn about new AP offerings.
• Students are excited to begin taking AP offerings in grade 10.