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Shin ’11 and Koh ’11 Earn Siemens AP Awards

After scoring perfect scores on over seven Advanced Placement math, science and technology exams, Jae Eun Shin ’11 and Jung Hun Koh ’11 became the Massachusetts state winners of the 2010 Siemens Award for Advanced Placement. The Siemens Foundation grants over seven million dollars each year to students through competitions and merit scholarships to support students of high academic potential. Created in 1998, the Award for Advanced Placement annually awards $2,000 to one male and female student from each state, as well as $5,000 to two national winners. Students win based on the number of fives, the highest AP score awarded, they receive from taking Biology, BC Calculus, Chemistry, Computer Science A, Environmental Science, Physics C (Mechanics), Physics C (Electricity and Magnetism) and Statistic exams. Shin took every eligible AP except Environmental Science and received fives on all her exams. Shin took AP Biology, Physics, Chemistry and BC Calculus classes at Andover but prepared for her Computer Science and Statistics exams on her own. “I didn’t really expect to win the award, so when they contacted me I was just really happy that all of my AP studying had paid off,” said Shin. Koh took all eight AP exams. He studied AP Biology, Physics, BC Calculus and Computer Science at Andover and prepared for Statistics, Chemistry, and Environmental Science on his own time. “The award was completely unexpected, and winning it was not much of a process for me at all,” said Koh. Looking towards their future studies, both Koh and Shin expect to continue exploring mathematics and science in college. Shin said that she knows she plans to major in math. Koh said that he has a more vague idea of his college major interests. “I’m not sure how the AP Award will help or contribute in the future, but I know that I want to do something along the lines of physics and/or biology once I get to college,” said Koh. The Siemens Award honored 98 students in 2010, 91 of whom were seniors, six juniors, one sophomore and one freshman.