AP® Seminar was the fastest-growing AP course in 2023 and saw a 30% increase in student enrollment. Even with such growth, 85% of AP Seminar students earned scores of 3 or higher, the same as the previous year. Today, almost 3,000 schools offer this course. The most rapid adoption is taking place within English departments, and more than half of participating schools have designated AP Seminar as their English 10 course. This is largely because teachers can meet state English Language Arts standards while providing students with cross-curricular exposure through evidence-based reading, writing, and speaking. Students who take the course fulfill a core English course requirement and benefit from a seminar-style approach that builds skills needed to succeed in high school, college, and career. They also have a chance to earn college credit, advanced placement, or both.

I first heard about Rise during my sophomore year of high school. While scrolling through Instagram, I found a video about a program that provided opportunities for promising young people committed to serving others. This piqued my interest. The application itself was fairly straightforward—all it required was that I record videos talking about my passions and recent projects. I was also able to check out hundreds of inspiring projects from other applicants on the platform.