CLINTON — Clinton High School junior Isaac Martinolich achieved a perfect 36 on the American College Test.
“It was first thing in the morning and my mom woke me up and said she wanted to check the score,” he said. “I heard her kind of gasp from across the house, and I knew I had done well.”
The ACT is a curriculum and standards based tool that assesses students’ academic readiness for college. Students can take it multiple times, and it is administered to all Mississippi students in 11th grade.
Isaac aced the test during the October administration. As a junior, he will take the test again in the spring.
“Last year I took an ACT prep class second semester,” he said. “Now I’m in the early morning Humanities class for ACT and PSAT prep.”
Although he still has time to decide where to go to college, Isaac is considering Mississippi State University with a dual major in engineering and theatre.
There are currently three students at Clinton High School with perfect scores on the ACT, Isaac, junior Kevin Zhang and senior Clark Hensley, but multiple other Clinton students have aced the test in recent years. Following the October administration of the ACT, there are 121 students in CHS’ 30-plus club, who have scored 30 or higher on the test.
“At CHS we work hard to prepare students to do well on the ACT because it can open a lot of doors for higher education,” said Principal Brett Robinson. “This equals free tuition at some schools and a lot of scholarship offers from others. Scoring well on the ACT can have real, tangible benefits for students.”