Fort Myers High students earned 93 College Board National Recognition awards, the most of any Lee County high school. Dunbar High earned 27. Full list inside.

Students at Fort Myers High School earned 93 College Board National Recognition Program awards this year, more than any other high school in Lee County. Gateway High, east of the city, was second with 82.

The School District of Lee County announced the awards on Oct. 1. It said 454 juniors and seniors across the district earned 574 awards between them.

The two high schools in the city

Fort Myers High, on Cortez Boulevard, earned:

  • 82 School Recognition awards
  • 11 First-Generation Recognition awards

Dunbar High, on East Edison Avenue, earned 27 awards:

  • 24 School Recognition awards
  • 3 First-Generation Recognition awards

Every high school on the district’s list

Horizontal bar chart of College Board National Recognition Program awards by Lee County high school: Fort Myers High 93, Gateway High 82, Cape Coral High 62, Riverdale High 48, Lehigh Senior High 36, North Fort Myers High 36, East Lee County High 32, Dunbar High 27, Cypress Lake High 26, Bonita Springs High 22, Ida S. Baker High 21, Estero High 16, Mariner High 16, South Fort Myers High 12 and Island Coast High 7.
College Board National Recognition Program awards by school. Chart by Fort Myers Daily; data the School District of Lee County.
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High school School Recognition First-Generation Rural and Small-Town Total
Fort Myers High 82 11 0 93
Gateway High 40 14 28 82
Cape Coral High 47 15 0 62
Riverdale High 36 12 0 48
Lehigh Senior High 24 12 0 36
North Fort Myers High 26 10 0 36
East Lee County High 30 2 0 32
Dunbar High 24 3 0 27
Cypress Lake High 20 6 0 26
Bonita Springs High 19 3 0 22
Ida S. Baker High 20 1 0 21
Estero High 13 3 0 16
Mariner High 11 5 0 16
South Fort Myers High 12 0 0 12
Island Coast High 7 0 0 7

Source: the School District of Lee County’s release. The district’s table shows a dash, not a number, where a school had no Rural and Small-Town awards; we show those as 0.

Several schools near the city also did well. Riverdale High, east of the city on Buckingham Road, earned 48. Cypress Lake High, about seven miles south, earned 26. South Fort Myers High, on Plantation Road south of the city limits, earned 12.

Gateway High was the only school with Rural and Small-Town awards, 28 of them.

The 15 schools in the district’s table add up to 536 awards. That is 38 fewer than the 574 the district gave as its total. The release does not say where the other awards were earned.

What the awards are

The College Board runs the program to help high-achieving students stand out to colleges. There are three awards:

  • School Recognition, for top-performing students at their high school
  • First-Generation Recognition, for students on track to be the first in their family to finish college
  • Rural and Small-Town Recognition, for students at high schools in smaller communities

To qualify, the district said, a student must:

  • take the PSAT/NMSQT, the PSAT 10 or AP exams by the stated grade
  • hold a cumulative GPA of at least 3.3, a B+
  • score in the top 10% of test-takers at their school, or among first-generation or rural students in Florida, or score 3 or higher on two or more AP exams in ninth or 10th grade

What it means for you

  • If your student is a sophomore or junior, they apply for the awards in 10th or 11th grade after taking one of the qualifying tests listed above.
  • The awards can go on college applications. Students who claim one can list it to show colleges their results.
  • To see which high school serves your address, read our guide to Fort Myers public schools.