On her third and final attempt, Senior Sierra Lopezalles scored a perfect 36 composite score on the ACT college entrance test this past September.
Lopezalles had scored a 34 on both of her previous attempts taking the test–both in February and in March of this past year.
Most students would be more than content to sit on a score in the top half percent of all test takers. Not Lopezalles, who said that, “I didn’t want to do anything less than my best.”
The composite ACT score is the average of the four subject tests: English, math, reading, and science. Lopezalles scored 36’s on the math and science tests and 35’s on the reading and English sections. The averages are rounded up to the nearest score, as was the case for Lopezalles.
Only a handful of students across the country can boast a perfect score. Less than a tenth of a percent, or one in a thousand, of the almost 2 million test takers receive that honor, as published by the ACT. Only 1,598 students scored a 36.
In the ten year history of North, only three other students have earned a perfect score on the test, with Lopezalles becoming the fourth to do so.
In her time at North, Lopezalles has been deeply involved in a wide variety of activities. She has participated in band, color guard, tech crew, National Honor Society, and French National Society in the past four years.
Lopezalles admits to a bit of academic competition between her and her friends, some of which are National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists, but Lopezalles is the only one who possesses a 36.
Her mother, Cindy Lopezalles, credits the quality of education her daughter has received throughout her education in District 202 for her accomplishment. “Something like this doesn’t happen without excellent teachers,” she said.
Lopezalles hopes to take her talents to the highly selective California Institute of Technology, where she plans to study molecular biology.
“We are very proud of Sierra and her accomplishment,” said Principal Raymond Epperson.