Twenty-four Naples High students presented their Laureate in front of a crowd of students, teachers, and staff on Mar. 19-22. The Laureate Program is an academically advanced approach for students who would like to earn scholarships.

Receiving the the Laureate Diploma comes with stipulations. There’s a fair amount of criteria with some of it being that the student must take and pass six AP or AICE courses, and must have an unweighted GPA of 3.0 or above for the past three years.

When all requirements are completed then the student has to choose a topic that they would research and present to a panel of teachers.

“This is an independently motivated course is course which is research driven and I encourage students to research a topic that they want to research in college,” Mrs. Rothring said about academically challenging the program is.

The students who join this program present their topics with verbal and visual presentations. They present in front of other students, faculty members, and administration. There is also a panel made of members who have read the students’ research paper and are ready to critique and challenge the student with questions.

This program rewards and celebrates students’ achievements for taking action on this rigorous academic course. Students work day and night so they can demonstrate their motivations and aspiration throughout their presentation.

This year the topics ranged from: Will the Development of Artificial Intelligence have a Positive Effect on Society, to Should Prostitution be Legalized, to What Makes an Education Superior.  

With each and every student being different they are determined to do this project in various ways.

“The ambition to speak about the different advancements in technology.” Luis Nicacio said was his reason to be a part of this program.