LOSER!
Let's all poke fun at the loser!
HHS junior scores perfect 36 on ACT
Feb 17, 2008 @ 10:36 PM
By BILL ROSENBERGER
The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON -- Sam Shideler told his parents after he took the ACT college entrance test on Oct. 27 that he thought he got all the questions right.
His parents, Steve and Michelle Shideler, know their son is smart, but they didn't think much of his comment until a letter came in the mail earlier this month.
It told them that Sam was the only West Virginia student to score a perfect 36 on the ACT.
"I figured I did well, but I didn't think I did that well," said a humble Sam Shideler, a junior at Huntington High School.
He said he took a few practice tests and reviewed some concepts to prepare for the test. Chances are, though, he was ready to take the ACT as a middle-schooler.
"In junior high, he was scoring on standardized tests scores that high school students would love to have," Steve Shideler said.
Sam Shideler's schedule at Huntington High includes Advanced Placement chemistry, AP calculus, honors physics, Latin III and AP English. He also is taking an evening math class at Marshall University because, he said, "I think I've pretty much exhausted the math curriculum at HHS."
He hopes to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall of 2009, and is awaiting a response to his application for its 2008 summer program.
He could have started college this fall at the University of Southern California.
His dad said his son was accepted to the school's program that allows students to skip their senior year of high school but still be awarded their diploma as they start their college career early. But Steve Shideler said his son decided that wasn't the right path for him.
Besides spending a lot of time on his studies, Sam Shideler also volunteers at the Cabell County Public Library and is president of the youth group at Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church.
He plans to earn bachelor's and master's degrees and teach math either in high school or college.
Copyright © 2008 The Herald-Dispatch Some Rights Reserved.
