Four Fargo Students Earn 36s on ACT Exam

Only nine students in the whole state succeeded in earning a perfect score.

FARGO, N.D.–Four Fargo seniors earned perfect 36 composite scores on the ACT this year.

Only nine students in the whole state succeeded in earning a perfect score; three from Bismarck, one from Devils Lake, one from Grand Forks and four from Fargo.

State School Superintendent Kirsten Baesler congratulated the students saying, “It is a rare event for a student to get the highest score possible on the ACT. It takes study and hard work as well as intellectual gifts. We all should be proud of the North Dakota students who were able to accomplish this. These nine students are truly among our best and brightest.”

North Dakota high school juniors are required to take the ACT test in which they are scored separately in math, science, English and reading. Students can take the test more than once to raise their score.

The four students from Fargo include Philip Dowdell, a senior at Fargo North High School, Joanna Lin, Forrest Weintraub and Allen Wu, all seniors at Fargo’s Davies High School.

The remaining five North Dakota students who scored perfect 36s include Alexander Heiser, a senior at Bismarck’s Century High School, Sean Joyce, a senior at Bismarck’s Legacy High School, Kali Bjornson, a senior at Devils Lake High School, Aiden Krogh, a senior at Grand Forks Red River High School and Ellie Zentner, who took the test as a junior at Bismarck’s Century High School.

North Dakota students must score a composite score of 24 or greater to qualify for a North Dakota academic scholarship.