For the past two years, USD 373 has had a place on the Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Roll. In 2016, AP test takers took a total of 89 tests within the subjects of U.S. History, U.S. Government & Politics, Calculus, Statistics, Psychology, English, Biology, French and German. This helped the Newton school district gain a spot on the College Board eighth annual AP honor roll.

“We don’t often celebrate positives as we should, but last year in the state of Kansas, only Blue Valley school district and Newton school district were on the AP honor roll,” principal Lisa Moore said. “This year there is five school districts who are on that list and we are the only back-to-back school district.”

Newton school district is one of 447 districts across the United States and Canada that has been selected for the AP honor roll. The district was selected because of rigorous advanced placement classes, range of advanced placement classes and scores on AP exams.

“That really goes out to the teachers for providing rigorous classes and preparing those students for the AP exams. It also comes from Newton High School offering so many different AP opportunities. And we know we need to offer more AP opportunities,” Moore said.

Teachers hope that this honor roll placement will help motivate other students into taking AP classes and to take the AP exam.

“To recognize both that the work you’re doing leads to success and that students who have done that work have been successful in the past. Hopefully, thinking that you’re part of an organization that has that type of success will help motivate students,” social science teacher Brian Kennell said.

Overall, Newton being selected for this national list pushes other students into preparing for this test.

“[The AP honor roll] highlights that we have lots of quality, bright and hardworking students. I would emphasize the quality of the students that have both ability and motivation and work ethic which are all good things,” Kennell said.