A record number of 23 students from Whitney Young Chicago public high school achieve perfect ACT scores, marking the highest achievement in the school’s history in West Loop.

CHICAGO (WLS) — Twenty three students at Whitney Young High School got perfect scores on their ACTs.

It’s the most the West Loop Chicago public school has ever seen.

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Less than 1 percent of test takers get a perfect score of 36.

Whitney Young will recognize their hard work at a special ceremony Monday morning.

“Principal Rickey Harris expressed immense pride in these exceptional students and their remarkable accomplishment. He emphasized that these perfect scores highlight the students’ dedication, intellectual inquisitiveness, and pursuit of academic excellence, as well as underscore the high-quality education and assistance provided by the committed faculty and staff at Whitney Young School.”

The ACT organization reported that the average composite ACT score for Illinois in 2024 was 24.5, compared to a national average of 19.4.

The news release from a Whitney Young school official pointed out that the ACT evaluates students’ proficiency in English, math, reading, writing, and scientific reasoning to gauge their readiness for college.

“Alison Melton, the Student Guidance Director at Whitney Young, emphasized that this accomplishment is not just a testament to individual student achievements but also a result of the collaborative efforts from teachers, staff, families, and the entire school community. She highlighted the relentless work of teachers, counselors, and support staff in creating an atmosphere where students can maximize their potential, with these outcomes demonstrating the positive impact of their approach.”

There are more than 400 students in the Whitney Young high school junior class. And nearly 5 percent of them got a perfect score on the ACT this spring.

They had to crowd into the frame in order to get a picture of all the Whitney Young students. This is not normal. One or two perfect scores are typically good.

Harris first looked at the ACT results and thought there was a mistake.

“I’m counting, and get to 15 and I had to stop. ‘I must be reading this wrong,'” he said.

But he was not wrong.

For comparison, ABC7 Chicago did a story in 2018 when the school also had a great showing on the test, with five students getting a perfect score.

This year is nearly five times as many, including Keith Xin, who already has a perfect 4.0 grade point average, and now has a test score to match.

“After the test, I thought I did pretty well, but I didn’t expect to get a perfect on it,” Xin said.

Ben Fiedor has tutored nearly a thousand students in preparation for the test.

“It’s a very rare feat to get perfect across the board because they are testing on lots of different skills,” said Fiedor, with Huntington Learning Center-Schaumburg.

As the incoming student council president, Xin is pretty well-rounded. But he’s not sure about what he’ll study in college.

“I think something in the medical field, but I’m not sure what yet,” Xin said.

Xin says he plans to start looking at colleges this summer.

He and his classmates are likely to be flooded with scholarship offers.

But he says he’s not going to become consumed with it.

He wants to enjoy being a teenager also.