EIGHT SOUTH SUBURBAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS PASS ADVANCED PLACEMENT ART & DESIGN EXAM

Jennifer Soto (pictured) recently became the first Hillcrest Highschool student to receive a 5, the highest possible score, on the Advanced Placement Art & Design Exam. Photo Credit: Provided by Jamilah Adebesin-Mason
Jennifer Soto (pictured) recently became the first Hillcrest Highschool student to receive a 5, the highest possible score, on the Advanced Placement Art & Design Exam. Photo Credit: Provided by Jamilah Adebesin-Mason

Eight South Suburban High School Students Pass Advanced Placement Art & Design Exam

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

Eight students from Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills recently found out that they passed the Advanced Placement (AP) Art & Design exam. The exam scores students from one to five with five being the highest score and three being the minimum for passing. One student, Jennifer Soto, became the first student in Hillcrest High School history to receive a five on the exam.

“I’ve been teaching AP Art & Design for the past nine years and the AP Art & Design exam is part of the College Board college entrance exams that high school students can take. If they pass the AP Art & Design exam with a score of three to five, then they’re able to earn college credit,” said Jamilah Adebesin-Mason, fine arts teacher at Hillcrest High School. “Basically, they are being tested on college-level material that they are being taught in the classroom and it gets the students ready for college-level work.”

Students prepare for the exam all year by building up a portfolio of their best work to submit to be graded. Adebesin-Mason said that she recommends certain students take the exam who have been committed to advancing their art skills during their time in high school and those who she thinks are uniquely talented and interested in pursuing art in college.

“I usually handpick the students and I specifically pick kids who have done at least three years worth of art because at that point, a lot of students have built up their technique or sometimes there are some kids who just have raw talent and I pick them because I know that they’ll be able to contribute something great to that exam,” said Adebesin-Mason. “For the entire school year, the students work on building up their portfolio in a specific way where they are showing growth in something that they’re studying.” Adebesin-Mason described Soto as being one of her students with “raw artistic talent.”

“The whole thing is just beyond me and it’s an incredible feeling. I graduated from Hillcrest High School and to be able to come back to the school and help students to achieve something of this magnitude is huge for me. A lot of times it can be like pulling teeth to get my students to actually take the exam,” said Adebesin-Mason. “I tell them that it’s not even about the score, it’s about the process of building up their own artwork and going through the struggle. There is a lot of pain that goes into getting this work done, both emotional and physical, but when they get it done and they have all the artwork with them, it changes them as a person.”

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