They're known as “the 36ers.”
It's an exclusive club of students with perfect composite scores of 36 on the ACT college admissions exam.
This year Nebraska adds 16 graduating seniors to that roster of the academic elite — a record for the state.
About 16,000 Nebraskans take the test each year. Last year nine had perfect scores. The average was 22.1.
Also, a Nebraska senior scored a perfect 2400 on the SAT, which is not as widely taken in Nebraska.
Paul Davey, a senior at Creighton Prep in Omaha, knew he had a shot at ACT perfection after scoring 31 when he took the test in seventh grade. Students are tested on English, math, reading and science.
His freshman year he improved to 35. He tried again, and on a trip to Colorado in the winter of his junior year, a friend delivered the good news after checking the online results on Davey's iPod. He was afraid to look.
“She gave me a big smile and told me I did it,” Davey said.
Creighton Prep turned out four of this year's 36ers — all four are friends, he said.
Davey, whose mother is a radiologist and father a pediatrician, said his success wasn't the product of a special ACT prep course but the result of simple curiosity and determination.
“The main thing was just paying attention in school, trying to learn all I could,” Davey said. “I've always been a curious person. I've been interested in learning.”
He'll continue his learning at Boston College on a full-tuition president's scholarship.
Last year about 1.5 million of the nation's graduating class took the ACT test, and, according to the ACT organization, less than one-tenth of 1 percent earned perfect scores.
Students may take it multiple times, and their top score counts for their graduation year.
Gov. Dave Heineman plans to recognize the students in separate ceremonies in Lincoln and Omaha next week.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1077, joe.dejka@owh.com
Perfect on the ACT
John Jasa, Lincoln Southwest
Sophia Wennstedt, Lincoln Southeast
Garin Newcomb, Papillion-La Vista South
Paul Davey, Omaha Creighton Prep
Seth Davis, Omaha Creighton Prep
Yuechen Zhao, Westside
Zachary Foster, Papillion-La Vista South
Natalie Wozniak, Kearney
Jacob Heidelk, Lincoln Southwest
Anh D. Nguyen, Lincoln High
Jeffmin Lin, Omaha Creighton Prep
Michael Lebens, Omaha Creighton Prep
Anna Sorensen, Creighton Community High School
Eric Wolatz, Millard North
J. Price Comstock, Omaha Roncalli
Gabriel Connealy, Mullen High School
Perfect on the SAT
Albert Zhou, Lincoln Southwest
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