nothin Give Me An “A”! Give Me A “P”! | New Haven Independent

Give Me An A”! Give Me A P”!

Christopher Peak

Mahdeen Khan, a Hillhouse senior and Advanced Placement whiz.

At Hillhouse High School’s latest pep rally, the crowd went wild for Mahdeen Khan — not for scoring touchdowns, but for getting into Yale.

That planned shift in the high school’s emphasis — from athletics to academics — was evident on Tuesday night at a mid-year awards ceremony for honors students.

In the school auditorium, Hillhouse administrators recognized top-performing students, like Khan, in college-level Advanced Placement (AP) classes and their preparatory courses.

But unlike most awards ceremonies, the event felt far from decorous, pulsing instead with the energy of a sports rally. Teachers handed out certificates, pins and bumper stickers. Students whooped for their classmates. One uncle yelled out DJ Khaled’s catchphrase, Another one, another one,” for every repeat award winner.

By the time parents left, John Tarka, the assistant principal, was dripping with sweat.

John Tarka: To the hard-working students, tonight is your night.

Hillhouse is known for being a champion in sports, but that’s changing. We have pep rallies for our sports teams, and we have programs for our students who are struggling. But what about the kids who stay focused in their classes and do the right thing?” Tarka asked the crowd, in his opening remarks. For those students, tonight is your night.”

The awards ceremony is part of a larger rebranding at Hillhouse. Glen Worthy took over the high school this past year after some panned an experiment that broke it into three academies with three separate principals and students complained that the school was running poorly.

Administrators are now trying to make rigorous classes as part of the Hillhouse experience. This year, they rolled out an honors track for freshman and sophomores that teachers put together over the summer. Known as the Hillhouse Summit Program, this selective track (open to students who entered high school with a GPA of 3.5 or higher) has a curriculum that’s faster-paced, more complex and wider in scope. Tarka said he hopes it will prepare students to eventually take the tough AP exams in May, which can count toward college credit.

About 270 are currently enrolled in an AP or pre-AP class. As the Summit program carries on, the goal is for every Hillhouse senior to take at least one AP class by graduation, Tarka added.

On Tuesday night, students like Khan represented what the rest of the student body could soon look like. After racking up passing scores on four AP tests last year, Khan got an early acceptance to Yale and a full-ride scholarship to the University of Connecticut. He was recognized by two teachers for academic excellence.

Briana Pina-Eckenrod, most improved in English.

Other students won awards for demonstrating the biggest improvement. Brianna Eckenrod, a sophomore, won one of those from her English teacher. It feels good because, in our school, sports are especially recognized,” Eckenrod said. Sometimes, we feel kind of left out as academic students.”

Her uncle, Matthew Pina, had been cheering loudly for her and for other students. He said he hoped that verbal support sent a message. They need to know that we celebrate them,” he said. It’s hard work. Sometimes you get bullied for being the nerdy kid, but when you end up being successful in life, you see it’s a benefit. That support and encouragement, they need it; they definitely need it.” Pina said he hoped the school puts on more more events like it.

Hillhouse’s team of AP and pre-AP teachers.

Rhonda Yeager, a 16-year veteran at Hillhouse who teaches AP English Language, said the rally was overdue. The next step, she said, will be an assembly for the entire student body, not just the honorees, to drum up interest in the AP program. Currently teaching 13 students in her AP class, Yeager said she wants to fill up multiple sections. And she said she hopes that will translate to college acceptances.

I’m a sports junkie, so I’ve always cut out articles about my sports players, and I post them up,” Yeager said. Now, to flip that, I had three students get into Ivy League schools last year. Where are their pictures in the paper [to cut out]? That’s what’s started and what I see coming down.”

The following students won awards:

Castellanos’s AP Spanish: Zaddy Lopez Alonzo and Zuleika Zambrana
Cortes’s AP Spanish: Pena Cesarina and Hernandez Enyoli
Thomas’s Pre-AP & AP Biology: Jesus Santana Colon & Angel Coe and Janet Guerrero Lara
MacDonald’s AP U.S. History: Shua Kim and Gillian Ofori
McDonald’s AP Calculus: Mohamed Naji and Andrae Brown
Cole’s Pre-AP and AP Chemistry: Talib McBride and Mediaka Ntungu
Hatfield’s AP Computer Science: Mediaka Ntungu and Naomi Wright
Paulishen’s AP Government: Mohamed Naji and Kyra Brown
Sullo’s AP Psychology: Lydia Ogbe and Kevin Rodriguez
Barbero’s AP Literature: Tamara Price and Samir Lee
Richardson’s AP Physics: Mahdeen Khan and Ammar Al Zouabi
Forstrom’s Pre-AP Alg. 2: Shua Kim and Mariella Morales
Giza’s Pre-AP ELA 1: Jesus Santana Colon and Destiny Thomas
Breland’s Pre-AP ELA 2: Kuniya Asobayire and Briana Pina-Eckenrod
Yeager’s AP Language: Mohamed Naji and Suzzanah Spruill
Johnson’s Pre-AP Geometry: Angel Coe and Jesus Santana
Reyes’s Pre-AP Modern World History: Jocelyn Maldonado and Aline Mbaga

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