Ten Uni students recognized for acing the ACT college and career readiness exam

Ten University High School students were honored for a pretty rare feat at this morning's end-of-year assembly.

Jessica Huang, Krystal Lai, James Liao, Andrew Ma, Jiho Park, Neel Sabnis, James Xue, William Xue, Alex Zivkovic and Jessica Zou all achieved perfection this year on the ACT college and career readiness exam. Similar to the SAT, the ACT is a curriculum-based exam that’s used for college admissions, and less than one-tenth of 1 percent of its test-takers earn the top composite score of 36. To have a single student ace the test is certainly worth celebrating; to have 10 students do it from the same school in the same year, well, that was enough to generate a news release from the Iowa-based ACT organization. And it's believed to be the first time it’s ever happened at Uni, says Principal John Pehrson. The local students received an engraved acrylic award at the assembly from the ACT, as well as a certificate of recognition from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson. In addition, Pehrson was presented with a special plaque acknowledging the exemplary work of the staff.