All nine BSHS students in Dr. Mo Seghier's AP Calculus class scored in the exceptional range — or better — on the national test.

Scoring on the test was on a scale of 1 through 5, with 3 denoting passage of the test. The BSHS students — Shane Bowles, Zack Dawson, Dirk Dykstra, Sergio Gatica, Brittany Huckabee, Daisy Montemayor, Hadden Phillips, Allison Ward and Eric Welch — all scored in the 4 or 5 range.

Three other BSHS students — Malle Carrasco, Christina Hernandez and Paola Villarta — also scored in the exception range in national AP Spanish testing.

With those high scores, the students get automatic credit on their first-year college courses in their respective subjects, officials said.

“We were told that an entire class scoring in the exceptional range was unprecedented,” BSHS Principal Mike Ritchey said. “Needless to say, we are very proud of these students ... A score of 3 is passing, but these students went way beyond passing. You just don't see 100 percent of a class' students scoring 4s or 5s on these tests.”

The high tests scores prove a worthy counterpoint to recent news that the high school and junior high were rated as “academically unacceptable” by the Texas Education Agency, Ritchey said.

“So many times, people neglect to look at other students who are working and achieving at a very high level,” he said. “We are so proud of these students. it is a tremendous accomplishment. We feel like this puts Big Spring High School students at an advantage when they compete against students from across the state in advanced academic courses in college.”

Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331 ext. 234 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it