Education achievement: Graduating Pioneer student earns Honors diploma

Brianna Rotter, a senior at Pioneer High School and Carson Online, completed the requirements for an Honors High School Diploma for the State of Nevada in the Carson City School District.

Rotter earned a 3.8 cumulative grade-point average and a 4.37 weighted grade-point average with Honors classes. She completed 24.5 credits, and five classes were dual college credits through Western Nevada College.

Rotter was asked to speak at the 2015 graduation and represent her senior class as the valedictorian of Pioneer High School. She also participated in Project Discovery events and earned her Academic Letter. She also represented PHS as one of the first students to participate in the Jump Start Program earning dual high school and college credits.

Rotter was recommended for local scholarships available to Carson City students and earned the Millennium Scholarship at Pioneer.

Daughter of area natives earns top ACT score

Leah McKinney, daughter of Matt and Rika McKinney of Gardnerville and an eleventh grader at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., earned a top composite score of 36 on a recent ACT test.

Nationally, while the actual number of students earning a composite score of 36 varies from year to year, on average, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of students who take the ACT earns the top score. Among test takers in the high school graduating class of 2014, only 1,407 of nearly 1.85 million students earned a composite score of 36.

The ACT consists of tests in English, mathematics, reading and science. Each test is scored on a scale of 1-36, and a student’s composite score is the average of the four test scores. Some students also take ACT’s optional Writing Test, but the score for that test is reported separately and is not included within the ACT composite score.

ACT test scores are accepted by all major U.S. colleges. Exceptional scores of 36 provide colleges with evidence of student readiness for the academic rigors that lie ahead.

Gardnerville man achieving at Fort Lewis College

Patrick Burtt, a Gardnerville native majoring in Native American and indigenous studies, was named to Fort Lewis College’s Dean’s List for the Spring 2015 semester.

To make the list, students must carry a semester grade-point average of 3.6 or better in no fewer than 15 credit hours of graded college level work and have completed all work for which they are registered by the end of the semester.

Fort Lewis College is in Durango, Colo.

Aspen Abbott native joins honor society

Gardnerville’s Aspen Abbott was initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines.

Abbott is pursuing a degree in physical therapy at Southern Oregon University.

Abbott is among approximately 32,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year. Membership is by invitation and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors, having at least 72 semester hours, are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff, and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.

Carson City woman earns degrees from Tulane University

Tulane University awarded degrees to more than 2,800 graduates, including Carson City’s Laura Sosa, on May 16 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

Sosa graduated from the A. B. Freeman School of Business with a Bachelor Science Management, and the A. B. Freeman School of Business with a Master of Accounting degree.

The ceremony’s keynote speaker was comedian Maya Rudolph, who also received a Tulane President’s Medal. Honorary degrees were given to bestselling author Walter Mosely, philosopher and Parliament member Onora O’Neill and internationally renowned jurist Hein Kötz.