148 students join club for scoring 30 or more on ACT
The 148 Madison Central students who joined the elite 30+ Club scoring among the highest in the country on their ACT were challenged by Principal Shaun Brewer during a ceremony last week that brought dignitaries and families alike when he asked them what their next great move is.
“Where do you go from here?” Brewer challenged the students. “What do you do next? You've made it, you're in this club.”
The school’s auditorium was packed wall-to-wall for celebration last Thursday as more than 12 percent of students were recognized for their high ACT score.
That breaks down to 148 of 1,169 students (12.7 percent) scored 30 or higher on their ACT, up from 142 last year.
When students score above 30 on the ACT, they rank within the top five-percent of high school students in the entire country.
Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler and state Rep. Jill Ford were present at the ceremony.
“When we started to grow this little town of Madison 40 years ago, with only 2,200 people, we built this community through the years for you,” Hawkins-Butler said. “We felt that if we had a safe place people wanted to live with their families, which had good schools, we could build this place called Madison.”
“You could grow up, have a wonderful school system and community, and one day you would want to bring your family here and not want to leave Madison,” Hawkins-Butler said. “I'm seeing that now!”
Rep. Ford also had enccouraging words and told the students to never let anything get in their way.
“When the going gets tough, you get tougher,” Ford said. “Do not allow something hard to stand in your way. Have that determined perseverance and have tenacity. And then, I'd like for you to come back here to Madison because I promise you, I've been all over the world, and I know Madison is the best place in the world to live!"
Brewer asked the students what their next move would be.
“Students, this is something you've accomplished that can never be taken away from you,” Brewer said. “You reached this bar and eclipsed it. Now the great question and the challenge will be, where do you go from here? What do you do next? You've made it, you're in this club.”
“My challenge to you is to look at this not an ending, but a beginning, and continue to take what you have in your ability, work hard, and see how far that will take you."
The mayor encouraged the students to dream big as she has building Madison.
“Follow your dreams and never give up,” Hawkins-Butler said. “Dream big, because you can be anything you want to be. You can do anything you want to do. There's no stopping you. But always take your faith with you, and never forget to pray because prayers built this community. We're not finished yet!"
The following students joined the Club: (Tenth Grade) Adel Abdo, Thomas Adcock, Christina Barefoot , Cain Biggerstaff, Katherine Farthing , Ryan Heydari, Joshua Iyo, Stephanie Ko, Annalise Kirk, Katy Mayhan, Chase Russell, Ahmed Sall and Sneha Vuyyuru (Eleventh Grade) Bethany Abraham, James Ainsworth, Molly Albritton, Bassel Aldaoud, Aiden Allen, Ogechi Anyamele, Rithik Banerjee, Beau Barnette, Ryan Bowman, Claire Boykin, Samuel Buck, Mary Claire Butts, Avery Chambliss, Emily Chandler, Jessica Eibert, Sophia Elenkov, Lexie Elenkov, Marina Goupalova, Samuel Han, Allie Hazelwood, Hayes Henry, Paul Hollingsworth, Cassie Howell, McKinley Johnson, Yeonjun Kim, Anna Kimbrell, Caroline King, Adam Maatallah, Emily McDonald, Leo Mei, Fabricio Neira, Jordan Northington, Laila Peery, John Phelan, Cooper Quarles, Charlie Ratliff, Dylan Reith, Anabella Rogers, Daniel Royals, Ella Ruhl, Shreya Sinha, Morgan Stroud, Jason Tu, Joshua Tucker, Patricio Vidal, Shelby White, Alicia Xu, and Zoe Zhang (Twelfth Grade) Emily Adcock, Cade Agostinelli, Eva Albright, Brayden Bailey, Leighton Barrett, Irene Bishop, Cannon Bosarge, Sadie Bryan, Natalie Campbell, Duncan Cavett, Austin Chang, Matthew Chano, Sneha Cherukuri, Emma Clanton, Isabelle Clemens, Jake Cook, Ford Copeland, Kacy Crothers, Caleb Davis, Carter Dickey, Riley Didion, Will Farthing, Wesley Fowler, Gabriel Freedman, Anna French, Sukhmanpreet Ghotra, Joel Gibson, Joseph Harris, Travis Hawkins, Matthew Heidorn, Lilian Henry, Simone Higgins, John Hodge, Jacob Hollis, Ann Travis Hutchinson, Benjamin Joshua, Neely Kiihnl, John Ko, Sarah LeRoux, Kate Elizabeth Lewis, Ann Leyton Lord, Mary Addison Loving, Rebecca Lu, Taylor Martin, Mason Mayo, Chloe McKenzie, Miriam Milan, Rebecca Mozingo, Conner Nguyen, Samuel Odom, Colin Opdyke, Diya Patel, Savanna Phung, Rachel Pierce, Adya Praveen, Jack Pringle, Emily Ralston, Compton Ross, Ainsley Ruhl, David Saltzman, Yumnaa Shaheen, Jack Sims, Logan Smith, Reese Sorrell, Mary Taylor Spell, Megan Staehling, Sally Claire Stockett, Sarah Liza Stockett, Nora Beth Thomas, Nam Truong, Seamus Tully, Calvin Van, Julia Van Lake, Anna Wheatley, Deanna Wilbourn, and Anabelle Zuluaga.