Photo Courtesy of Lincoln Middle School
Taking college entrance exams is tough enough as a junior or senior in high school, let alone as a middle schooler. However, nearly 49,000 seventh-graders took the ACT or SAT this school year as part of the Duke University Talent Identification Program, which identifies high-achieving middle school students. At least 62 participating students in Alachua County received scores as high as the top-performing 50 percent of high school students, marking them as state-level winners. To qualify, students had to either earn at least a 22 (out of 36) in English, Math and Science and a 23 in Reading on the ACT, or at least a 540 (out of 800) Math and a 550 in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing on the SAT.
Seventeen of those 62 earned scores equal to or higher than 90 percent of high schoolers who took the tests, marking them as grand-level winners along with about 2,600 other students across the country. To qualify, students had to either earn at least a 28 in Science, a 29 in Math, and a 31 in English and Reading on the ACT, or at least a 670 in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing and a 680 in Math on the SAT.
Lincoln Middle School had the highest number of state and grand recognition level students, with 17 state-level winners and 12 grand-level winners.
Lincoln Middle School
Grand-level winners: Katherine Canev, Samuel Cohen, Nicholas Dang, Rishi Gadikota, Angela Gao, Claire Kuntz, Elizabeth Matthais, Ruoxi Qian, McKayla Ro, Akash Verma, William Xu and Chris Zhou
State-level winners: Hannah Ahn, Xavier Ayala-Vermont, Najli Barber, Eric Bennett, Madeline Bledsoe, Sara Brackett, Daniel Fudge, Rebekah George, Michelle Han, Jackson O’Neill, Aditya Varshan Pasumarti, Siya Patel, Jackson Petty, Saayon Roy, Hannah Waite, Charles Ye and Shao Tong Zheng
Bishop Middle School
Grand-level winners: Nathalie Judkins Cooke and Kate Millinor
State-level winners: Andrew La Madrid, Garrett McDilda and Laura Rollins
Kanapaha Middle School
Grand-level winner: Tyler Holland
State-level winners: Malak Ibrahim and Jackson Parrot
Oak View Middle School
Grand-level winner: Tucker Shea
State-level winners: Kelly Colton, Ryan Krecic, Sydney Vaillancourt and Daniel Weed
Ft. Clarke Middle School
Grand-level winner: Akshara Sisodiya
State-level winners: Eric Hoffman, Matthew Payton, Paul Rubin, II and Donovan Slone
Westwood Middle School
State-level winners: Zachary Collins, Zelmarria Davis, Aiden Kittelson, Nikhita Meier, Ella Monck and Rachel Wynn
P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School
State-level winners: Valentina de Grammont and Tupelo Hostetler
Cornerstone Academy
State-level winners: Asha Freeman, Payten Leeds, Chase Guillot, Joel Burgett, Selasi Nukunya and Seth Jones
Oak Hall School
State-level winners: Spencer Fuhr, Sannidhi Kolukula, Sydney Miller and Dylan Provencher