The Student News Site of Sunny Hills High School

The Accolade
The Student News Site of Sunny Hills High School

The Accolade
The Student News Site of Sunny Hills High School

The Accolade

U.S. News & World Report ranks Sunny Hills nearly 200 spots higher than previous year with campus breaking into Top 800 schools nationwide

Kevin Lee, Assistant News Editor • January 16, 2025

Honors level classes. Advanced Placement [AP] courses. International Baccalaureate [IB] pathway.  These are among the options Sunny Hills offers its students who seek rigorous, academic assignments...

A multitude of reasons can propel students to commit academic dishonesty on Advanced Placement exams in hopes they achieve a 5, the maximum possible on the tests. Over the summer, the College Board acknowledged a 1% increase of score cancellations because of suspicions over cheating.

ANALYSIS: WHY TEST-TAKERS CHEAT? Sociology professor, students provide insight into the phenomenon that caused the uptick in Advanced Placement exam score cancellations this summer

Christine Yoo, Managing Editor • September 28, 2024

Because of the sensitive nature of this article, names of student sources will remain confidential, and generic pseudonyms will be used instead. Note cards. Apple Watches. Arms. Several anonymous...

The screenshot shows what students with canceled scores saw when opening the College Board website to view their Advanced Placement test results on July 8.

CANCELED: 2024 AP scores face an increase in voided tests with an unspecified number of SH students affected

Alexxa Berumen, Editor-in-Chief • September 22, 2024

The College Board has noticed a slight increase in cheating on some Advanced Placement [AP] exams from last semester and has notified suspected violators — including an unspecified number of Sunny Hills...

The bar graph displays passing rates of Sunny Hills Advanced Placement [AP] exams from 2019-2023. The passing rate increased by 1.99% from the previous year, surpassing the 2020 rate by 0.59%, the previous highest mark recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic when the college board exclusively offered digital versions of its AP exam.

SH students achieve highest Advanced Placement pass rate since 2020 with more exams taken

Teo Jeong, Podcast Team Leader • October 20, 2023

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, nearly 77% of Sunny Hills students who took Advanced Placement [AP] exams this past May earned a passing score, continuing the upward trend from...

Passing rate averages for Advanced Placement [AP] exams from the 2021-2022 school year show an 8% increase compared with the previous school year and 1% below 2020’s highest rate over the past five years. The College Board views a 3 or higher as passing for its AP tests.

2022 Sunny Hills Advanced Placement exams yield higher passing rate averages despite fewer students taking them

Giselle Suastegui, Feature Editor • September 27, 2022

After returning to a full, in-person Advanced Placement testing environment for the first time in three years, the number of Sunny Hills students who passed with a 3 or higher improved 8% compared to the...

Senior Andi Elisaldez (left) and AVID coordinator Jennifer Papageorge show off the AVID Senior Standout Award certificate.

AVID Senior Standout reflects on her recognition

Irene Sheen, Managing Editor • February 8, 2022

Time is of the essence, and for senior Andi Elisaldez, this was all the more true.  During her college admissions process, Elisaldez had one more concern aside from academics and extracurriculars.  “The...

Social sciences teacher Greg Del Crognale explains the reason behind increased gas prices in relation to the supply chain on Dec. 3. Del Crognale is one of multiple economics teachers who commented on what they believe the source of the problem lies with the nation’s economy.

Sunny Hills teachers ‘supply’ opinions on economic crisis

Nevya Patel, News Editor • December 5, 2021

The supply chain: the process through which goods arrive to the consumer, according to Investopedia. An Oct. 21 Business Insider online article was among the first in the media to spot a break in this...

Of the 1,048 students who decided to take AP tests in the 2020-2021 school year, 233 opted to take them in person on the SH campus. The past year’s tests yielded results that were, overall, lower than those of previous years, and students and teachers agreed that online learning was a main factor for the dip in scores.

Overall AP scores drop in 2021 school year with online learning being the biggest factor for the dip

Michelle Sheen, Editor-in-Chief • October 7, 2021

After a full year of online learning and hybrid learning for some, the 2021 Advanced Placement [AP] tests that students took yielded scores lower or similar to national and Sunny Hills averages from 2020...

Kathryn Aurelio, Class of 2021, sits in front of her laptop to find application information for her college application editing service @collegeessaygals on Instagram. She runs this business with alumni Anika Madan and Amaya Mitchell.

Stressed about college apps?

Divya Bharadwaj, Feature Editor • September 7, 2021

Senior year. A time filled with spirit days like Black and Gold Day, traditions like Grad Nite and most importantly, graduation.  But wrapped up in the midst of these moments – especially during...

How to deal with cheating during distance learning? Get rid of tests or make them all open notes, Google or friends

How to deal with cheating during distance learning? Get rid of tests or make them all open notes, Google or friends

Daniel Kong, Business Manager • April 14, 2021

In an effort two months ago to convince the Fullerton Joint Union High School District [FJUHSD] trustees to reopen schools for the first time in 2021, sophomore Natania Spradley wasn’t afraid to address...

Despite my online WiFi issues earlier in May, the College Board has convinced me to take the 2021 AP tests — whether they’re home or school assigned

Despite my online WiFi issues earlier in May, the College Board has convinced me to take the 2021 AP tests — whether they’re home or school assigned

Elijah Jhee, Managing Editor • December 5, 2020

11:50 a.m. I let out a sigh of relief as I took my fingers off the keyboard.  The piercing white background of the College Board website blankly stared back at me. After 50 arduous minutes of anxiety-driven...

A sample College Board response email regarding a potential change in scores for Advanced Placement tests.

Sunny Hills students, teachers finding College Board’s not budging much on their appeals regarding low scores from modified online exams

Kate Yang, Editor-in-Chief • October 2, 2020

This is the second of a two-part series focusing on the May 2020 Advanced Placement [AP] scores released earlier this summer. In response to the coronavirus pandemic that shut down testing locations worldwide,...

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