MHS Senior aces ACT
Chad Sullivan
When Chad Sullivan found out he had scored a perfect 36 on the ACT, he couldn’t believe it.
“I was waiting for them to give me a second call and tell me it was a mistake,” Sullivan said. “It was very exciting, but I really didn’t think it was true.”
Fortunately, it wasn’t a mistake, and Sullivan’s work had paid off. Sullivan’s first attempt at the ACT was in seventh grade, when the Duke TIP Program was searching for intelligent seventh graders.
“They said that if we got a good enough score, we could go to a summer camp they were holding for gifted students,” Sullivan said. “I got a 24, which was exactly what I needed to get, but I ended up not being able to go to the summer camp. It was still great to get that score so early.”
From there, Sullivan took the test five times in high school. His first attempt in high school was a 31, and he said he just went uphill from there.
Academics are not the only thing at which Sullivan excels. He is very involved in the MHS community, competing on the Academic Team and Speech and Debate Team. He also holds memberships in a variety of clubs, including Octagon Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Robotics Club and the National Honor Society.
Looking forward, Sullivan said he hopes to transition his perfect ACT score into some competitive scholarships on the road to becoming an orthopedic surgeon.
“I don’t know where I want to go just yet, and with this score, I’m starting to expand my search for college,” Sullivan said. “Right now, I’m looking at majoring in pre-med at (the University of Missouri – Columbia), then going to the University of Missouri – Kansas City for their six-year med school track.
“Now that I have this score, I’m looking at other schools and going out for more competitive scholarships. The 32 was the apex for most academic scholarships, but I can use the 36 to get the higher-level ones so that I can go through school and get a job without having the cloud of debt hanging over me.”
In addition to his club and team memberships, Sullivan said he also enjoys teaching himself things he doesn’t know.
“In middle school, I wanted to learn how to code, so I got some books and taught myself a few different coding languages,” Sullivan said. “In my freshman year, I found out that I could take Spanish, so I took an online course to get myself ready for the class.
“I really like doing stuff like that. It helps me to keep my learning skills sharp and it means that I constantly have to adapt to each program’s requirements.”