175 Students Earn National Academic Honors from College Board

175 Students Earn National Academic Honors from College Board
Posted on 09/10/2024
175 Students Earn National Academic Honors from College Board

The School District of Lee County is proud to announce that 27 students from the Class of 2024 have earned the AP Capstone Diploma™. The AP Capstone Diploma program helps students develop critical thinking, research, collaboration, and presentation skills that are essential to academic success.

To receive the AP Capstone Diploma, students must earn scores of 3 or higher in AP Seminar, AP Research, and on four additional AP® Exams of their choice. Class of 2024 AP Capstone Diploma recipients are:

Cypress Lake High School:

• Emerson Antunes Black
• Aubrey Barnhouse
• Kaelyn Bernaldo
• Ava Binkowski
• Anthony Cardenas
• Cora Henderson
• Naya James
• Abigail Johnson
• Anna Jones
• Emma Justice
• Kalyssa Kennelly
• Brianna Madore
• Benjamin Manekin
• Isabella Moon
• Evelyn Mufalli
• Griffin Myers
• Jack Perera
• Summer Shed
• Jordan Smith
• Meadow Stanley
• Neveah Stanley
• Ryan Turner


Ida Baker High School:

• Gia Serrano

Mariner High School:

• Joshua Eddy
• Ivanna Espinosa
• Dalianys Lachel
• Kailyn McLeod


The District is also proud to announce that 148 students have earned academic honors from the College Board National Recognition Programs. These National Recognition Programs grant underrepresented students with academic honors that can be included on college and scholarship applications and connect students with universities across the country, helping them meaningfully connect to colleges and stand out during the admissions process. Colleges and scholarship programs identify the students through College Board’s Student Search Service.

The College Board Recognition Program honors students in five categories: National African American Recognition Award, National Hispanic Recognition Award, National Indigenous Recognition Award, National Rural/Small Town Recognition Award and/or National First Generation Recognition Award. More than 90,000 students received a recognition award this year.

The following Lee County students have been awarded the National Hispanic Recognition Award:

Bonita Springs High School

• Juan Lobo
• Arden Loftus
• Brandon Lopez-Lopez
• Yaresly Maqueda
• Gabriela Rivera
• Marcus Sarabia

Cape Coral High School

• Preston Alicandri
• Melanie Cubelis
• Alexandra Souto
• Olivia Toro
• Juliana Verzi


Cypress Lake High School

• Danielle Barsheshet
• Sofia Ramirez-German
• Alyssa Vargas


Dunbar High School

• Magdalena Abella
• Brenna Hiss
• Joselyn Landin
• Pamela Padilla-Santillan
• Ann Gracy Satyr


East Lee County High School

• Angel Candelario
• Daniela Jimenez-Martinez

Fort Myers High School

• Sarah Acosta
• Rafael Alcalde
• Ahniya Alicea
• Michael Briseno
• Sebastian Canizares
• Madison Chinchilla
• Gabriel Cintron
• Lorenzo De Souza
• Eden Elmakias-Acosta
• Christopher Kozlowski
• Kylie Land
• Marcus Martinez
• Juan Martinez
• Katherine Ortega
• Sophia Pacheco
• Isabelle Rose
• Nicholas Santana
• Ana Smoot

Gateway High School

• Jayden Banos
• Liam Contreraz
• Justin Garcia Del Busto
• Gabriella Reyes-Criollo

Ida Baker High School

• Ethan Zonnebelt

Island Coast High School

• Derick Bento
• Caleb Cruz
• Alexandra Flores

Lehigh Senior High School

• Anahy Gonzalez-Mata
• Dalila Ramos
• Marlexis Ruano

North Fort Myers High School

• Dalilah Arias-Esler
• Valeria Gonzalez
• Kaylin Gonzalez
• Eduardo Hernandez
• Martha Martinez
• Sandro Morales

Riverdale High School

• Calmia Frederic
• Edwin Jimenez-Medina
• Jaylene Tavarez

The following Lee County students have been awarded the National African American Recognition Award:

Bonita Springs High School

• Keegan O’Connell

Cape Coral High School

• Rebecca Lozandier
• Esther Saintilien

Cypress Lake High School

• Keishna Philippe

Dunbar High School

• Yozeline Garius
• Ashleigh Green
• Kennard Harijono
• Kristy Spence
• Jaden White

East Lee County High School

• Karina Alexandre
• Ryanna Ameer

Fort Myers High School

• Sarah Acosta
• Royce Bynum
• Za’Nyri Mays
• Anouluwa Onawumi
• Mischa Soubiron

Gateway High School

• Stephanie Cuevas
• Bobbieann Levat
• Olivia Mason

Ida Baker High School

• Thorn Neely
• Ethan Zonnebelt

Lehigh Senior High School

• Isabel Adu-Amanfoh
• Lensy Devariste
• Serenity Jackson
• Jeanella Jacotin

North Fort Myers High School

• Izabella Cancel
• Aliyah Gaines
• Sebastian Jeanpierre

Riverdale High School

• Calmia Frederic
• Aniya Laney
• Rayshaun Lindor
• Kesleine Mesidor
• Janaya Toussaint

The following student has been awarded the National Indigenous Recognition Award:

Fort Myers High School

• Kiera Adkins
• Tegan Webb

North Fort Myers High School

• Jeremiah Cordero

The following Lee County students have been awarded the National Rural and Small Town Recognition Award:

Bonita Springs High School

• Alena Augustine
• Julianna Bendeck
• Mason Burks
• Bethany Davis
• Gregory Davis
• Veereshwar Gupta
• Jeffrey Jiang
• Juan Lobo
• Brandon Lopez-Lopez
• Jesse Loukonen
• Yaresly Maqueda
• Spencer Ortyl
• Gabriela Rivera
• Lennon Sangster
• Marcus Sarabia
• Kayla Thrasher

Riverdale High School

• Calmia Frederic
• Skylar Hubbard
• Edwin Jimenez-Medina
• Rayshaun Lindor
• Elisabeth Maavich
• Holden Meade
• Kesleine Mesidor
• Evan Mintz
• Jaylene Tavarez
• Joshua Vonderwell

The following Lee County students have been awarded the National First-Generation Recognition Award:

Bonita Springs High School

• Jeffrey Jiang
• Brandon Lopez-Lopez
• Yaresly Maqueda
• Lennon Sangster
• Marcus Sarabia
• Kayla Thrasher

Cape Coral High School

• Melanie Cubelis
• Sabrina Dong
• Dakota Downey
• Rebecca Lozandier
• Jordan Manning
• Esther Saintilien
• Juliana Verzi

Dunbar High School

• Magdalena Abella
• Joselyn Landin
• Sarah Redford
• Re’Niyah Tape

East Lee County High School

• Angel Candelario
• Daniela Jimenez-Martinez

Estero High School

• Leo Lin

Fort Myers High School

• Ahniya Alicea
• Kiera Barbanti
• Sebastian Canizares
• Jennifer Dong
• Mia Gilbert
• Jaxon Gustafson
• Tasnia Hossain
• Lorena Huang
• Henry Lin
• Margaret MacDiarmid
• Alexander Matei
• Za’Nyri Mays
• Katherine Ortega
• Sophia Pacheco
• Mattie Parish
• Aashi Patel
• Nicholas Santana
• Jackie Tang
• Tyler Tocket
• Tegan Webb
• Skylar Wentworth
• Shenard Williams
• Mason Wolnik
• Anastasia Yanpolskaya
• Ivan Yu
• Owen Zou

Gateway High School

• Justin Garcia Del Busto
• Simpson Lin
• Gabriella Reyes-Criollo

Island Coast High School

• Derick Bento
• Allison Cabrera
• Caleb Cruz

Lee Virtual School

• Christina Tanner

Lehigh Senior High School

• Anahy Gonzalez-Mata
• Marlexis Ruano

Mariner High School

• Alexander Lamb
• Isabella Torres

North Fort Myers High School

• Dalilah Arias-Esler
• Izabella Cancel
• Fernando Ferragut
• Brianna Gaeta
• Valeria Gonzalez
• Eduardo Hernandez
• Grayson Jones
• Amy Lam
• Martha Martinez
• Michael Naehring

Riverdale High School

• Ayden Balma
• Calmia Frederic
• Edwin Jimenez-Medina
• Aniyah Laney
• Rayshaun Lindor
• Elisabeth Maavich
• Jaylene Tavarez
• Janaya Toussaint

“We’re thrilled to celebrate our students and recognize them for the great work they’ve been doing,” said Chief Academic Officer Dr. Nathan Shaker. “We’re proud of their strong academic performance in the classroom and on College Board assessments. There’s so much that makes our students unique, and receiving this honor reinforces this as an asset for their future.”

Students with a GPA of 3.5 or higher and have excelled on the PSAT/NMSQT or PSAT 10, or earned a score of 3 or higher on two or more AP Exams; and are African American or Black, Hispanic American or Latinx, Indigenous, and/or attend school in a rural area or small town are eligible for an award. Eligible students are invited to apply during their sophomore or junior year and recognitions are awarded at the beginning of the next school year. Students receive their awards in time to include them on their college and scholarship applications.

“This year, the National Recognition Programs are recognizing more students than ever so that the outstanding academic abilities of more than 90,000 deserving students are not overlooked as they plan for their future,” said Amy Reitz, senior vice president of BigFuture at College Board. “We’re proud to support colleges and universities that are committed to supporting all students, and our program offers one way they can strengthen their recruitment efforts to students that will thrive on their campus.”