Rockdale Citizen

Senior Heeyoon Kim at the Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology recently was named one of the two Georgia state winners of the 2012-13 Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement for her academic excellence in the 14 courses she's taken so far. Staff Photo: Sue Ann Kuhn-Smith

CONYERS -- A Magnet School student has again been named a state winner from a national organization.

Senior Heeyoon Kim at the Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology recently was named one of the two Georgia state winners of the 2012-13 Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement, a signature program of the Siemens Foundation administered by the College Board.

The awards recognize the nation's top achievers in Advanced Placement Program courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics with a $2,000 college scholarship to one male and one female student in each state.

"Heeyoon is very deserving of this prestigious award," said Mary Ann Suddeth, director of the Magnet School. "She has enrolled in nearly every AP course offered, including several online courses, and has excelled in every academic area as a results of her hard work and motivation to succeed. Heeyoon is a student who takes advantage of every opportunity offered, and this award reflects those efforts."

Two national winners -- one male and one female -- were also recognized by the foundation, each receiving a $5,000 scholarship. This year, 101 high school students in all 50 states -- including 93 seniors and 8 juniors -- were honored.

"We commend this year's Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement winners on their hard work and dedication to STEM subjects, and we thank the teachers, parents and schools who supported their scholarship," said Jeniffer Harper-Taylor, president of the Siemens Foundation.

To date, Kim has taken 14 AP courses at the Magnet School. Her favorite so far has been chemistry.

Kim recently was named a National Merit Finalist for her work on the 2011 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test; she also is the county's STAR student this year for scoring the highest on her SAT with a score of 2370 out of a possible 2400.

She is a 2013 Senior Division Grand Champion at the Rockdale Regional Science and Engineering Fair; she will advance to the state science fair next month.

She also was nominated to study math at the 2012 Governor's Honors Program over the summer. She placed fourth in the 2012 state math tournament and was in the 2011 Georgia Music Educators Association all-state band in flute.

Several Magnet School students have been honored since 2003 for the award.