Two students at same Catholic high school defy odds, ace ACT

Published: 2005-03-30

ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- When senior Paul Barker scored a perfect 36 on the ACT Assessment Test last fall, everyone at St. Louis University High School felt pretty proud. According to the school, only .02 percent of all students taking the test achieve a perfect score. Then Joel Westwood, a junior at the same school, repeated the feat, scoring 36 on the February ACT. Nobody, including the ACT organization, knows the odds on two students from the same school getting perfect scores. "It's rare," said Kristin Crouse, ACT spokeswoman. "It does happen. But we don't keep records on that. Out of 2.1 million tests administered in 2003-2004, we had 230 perfect scores nationwide, and seven students in the state of Missouri scored 36. So to have two from the same school -- that's a great achievement."

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