The AP/IB Boosters have never had an official membership drive – until today. In the next few weeks we will have an information table setup at local grocery stores with brochures and signups. We will have our mission statement and objectives statement available for distribution along with college information similar to what is on our web site. We will also have 2 petitions. The first one deals with ending the failed 4x4 block schedule at Jackson High School. The second one deals with ending the English/History combo courses at Jackson High School. These combo courses limit students’ choices. They prevent students, other than sophomores, from taking AP World History. They prevent students, other than seniors, from taking AP Government & Politics.

Our first membership drive event will be in front of Safeway on 132nd and Bothell-Everett hwy in Mill Creek this Saturday September 27^th from 11AM – 1PM. Please come by and consider signing one or both petitions. Also, since we are in our membership drive phase, please consider encouraging a friend or neighbor to join our academic booster club. Just have them visit our web site and follow the link to Join. It's FREE!

Heatherwood Middle School will be participating in a mathematics competition. The competition is open to all 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. There are no algebra questions. AP/IB Boosters will be cosponsoring this event. It is a national middle school competition. We are trying to raise $190. Please mail contributions to: AP/IB Boosters: PO Box 13317: Mill Creek, WA 98082. Please see the link below for additional information.

National Merit Semifinalists

National Merit semifinalists earn that honor by scoring in the top 1% of high school students on the Preliminary SAT taken in their junior year. Congratulations to Andrew Carson of Everett High School in the Everett School District. Archbishop Thomas J. Murphy High School had 3 semifinalists: Steve Alkire, Timothy Burke, and John McDonnell.

The following list shows some of the schools in the Greater Seattle Area and their number of National Merit semifinalists for this year:

Lakeside, 30

James A. Garfield High School, 28

Redmond High School, 17

Mercer Island High School, 12

Inglemoor High School, 11

Seattle Preparatory School, 9

The Overlake School, 8

Shorewood High School, 6

Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, 5

Newport High School, 5

Kentridge High School, 5

Holy Names Academy, 5

Bellevue High School, 4

Juanita High School, 4

Kamiak High School, 4

Bishop Blanchet High School, 4

Woodinville High School, 4

Bainbridge High School, 3

The Bear Creek School, 3

Oliver M. Hazen High School, 3

Kings High School, 3

The Northwest School, 3

Roosevelt High School, 3

University Preparatory Academy, 3

Shorecrest High School, 3

The complete list can be found at the Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2001734461_merit18m.html

Former AP Calculus Student Article Addressed to Incoming AP Students

At one of the nearby schools, it is customary for recent AP students to write letters to incoming AP students. The following letter is from an AP Calculus student. Names of the student, teacher, and school have been removed. Teachers will usually provide these letters to parents also.

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Dear AP Calculus Students

At the beginning of this class, you might feel overwhelmed with all the homework you have, especially if you play sports. I played volleyball, and it was hard at the beginning doing homework every night for a long time. I remember going to my counselor and asking to switch out, and of course he didn't let me. I thought, why should the administration care if I dropped it. And why would ___ care if he has one person less in his class. It's better for him anyway to have a smaller class. But ___ did care. He encouraged all of us to stay in the class and trust him because he believed we would all succeed. I trusted him, and now at the end of the year, I am so glad that I didn't drop it. And even though I don't know my AP score yet, I know that I passed with at least a three because ___ has a money back guarantee. Seriously though, I know I passed because I felt comfortable taking the test. Never in my life have I felt that prepared for a test. We did six weeks of review before the test, and since I forgot what we learned in the beginning, the review was very helpful.

___ is also a very good teacher. He doesn't give up on anyone. He always explains every chapter so well, and he makes sure everyone knows the material. It is so much better taking this class in high school knowing a teacher will make sure you know the chapter contents than taking it in college with two hundred classmates and a professor who could care less about who you are. Everybody in college who takes math says it's very hard because the professor doesn't explain it, and math is not one of those subjects you can get on our own, so be smart and let ___ teach you the wonderful world of Calculus. It will pay off. At least you'll get free ___ AP Calculus pencils.

Sincerely,

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Thank you,

AP/IB Boosters Newsletter, September 25, 2003