AUBURN – Three students at St. Dominic Regional High School have earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement Program Exams.

The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program offers students the opportunity to take challenging college-level courses while still in high school and to receive college credit, advanced placement or both for successful performance on the AP Exams.

About 18 percent of the more than 1.4 million high school students in 16,000 secondary schools worldwide who took AP Exams performed at a sufficiently high level to merit the recognition of AP Scholar.

Students took AP Exams in May 2007 after completing college-level courses at their high schools.

The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on students’ performance.

At St. Dominic Regional High School, three students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP Exams, with grades of 3 or higher.

The AP Scholars are Carla Henault, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gerard Henault of Lisbon, Sasha Pavlak, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Douglas Pavlak of Auburn and Joseph Theriault, son of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Theriault of Lewiston.

Most of the nation’s colleges and universities award credit, advanced placement or both based on successful performance on the AP Exams.

More than 1,400 institutions award a full year’s credit (sophomore standing) to students presenting a sufficient number of qualifying grades.