Record Number of AP Capstone Diploma Awards 

The College Board announced that nine Saint Monica Preparatory students earned the AP Capstone Diploma last year, based on the scores released from the 2025 AP Exam administration. Congratulations, Mariners! Students scored a 3 or higher in AP Seminar, AP Research, and on four additional AP exams of their choosing in order to receive the diploma. Dr. Janelle Peters, SMPREP English Teacher, designed our school's multi-year AP curriculum herself and is proud of our students for this outstanding achievement. They represent SMPREP and its project-based learning experience among the only 27,650 students at participating schools worldwide who earned this distinction.

An additional 18 SMPREP students were among the only 12,430 students worldwide who received the AP Seminar and Research Certificate for the 2024-25 school year. They earned scores of 3 or higher in both AP Seminar and AP Research. Dr. Peters shared that students focused their impactful research on how to improve healthcare, AI and economic policies locally and globally: "As they learned research techniques and ethics, they crafted passion projects that enabled them to create community partnerships with sports medicine centers to expand access to sports medicine, propose curricular innovations, analyze the impact of AI in Santa Monica, and start successful media and cottage-food businesses in Santa Monica and Venice."

The College Board AP Program helps students develop critical thinking, research, collaboration and presentation skills that are essential to academic and career success well after high school. It evaluates skills mastery through interdisciplinary group projects, presentations and individual essays completed throughout the year. The program has additional benefits for students, including earning college credit and/or advanced placement in college courses. “The AP Capstone program reignites curiosity in the classroom,” shared Bianca Peart, global director of the AP Capstone Diploma program. “Students are not only building essential skills for college and career success but they’re also discovering how their voices and ideas can make an impact.”