Perfect Times Two: Pair of Roosevelt Students Earn Top Score on ACT

Each year, roughly one out of every 2,500 students who take the ACT college entrance examination earn a perfect composite score of 36. This year, two members of that select group are seniors at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines.

The two Roosevelt students earned the highest possible composite score of 36 when they took the ACT exam last April. The students, members of the Class of 2014, are:

  • Edel Aron of Clive, the daughter of Mikhail and Julia Aron
  • Max Pilcher of Des Moines, the son of Timm and Kathryn Pilcher

Both students also take courses at Central Academy.

“This is the academic version of lightning striking twice,” said Kevin Biggs, principal of Roosevelt High School. “This is a great honor for both Edel and Max, and speaks highly of their potential in college and beyond. This is also an honor for their teachers and the great educational opportunities available to our students in Des Moines.”

In recent years, anywhere from three to fourteen Iowa students earned a perfect composite score annually. In Iowa, approximately 23,000 students take the ACT exam each year.

Nationally, nearly 1.8 million students in the Class of 2013 took the ACT exam; only 1,162 of them earned a composite score of 36. Two members of the Roosevelt’s Class of 2013 – Nathan Leys (now at George Mason University) and Luke Sheeley (now at Cornell University) – earned perfect ACT composite scores of 36.