Kaslikowski becomes second CCHS student to tally a 36 on the exam

CELINA-One year after Clay County High School saw its first ever score of 36 on the ACT exam, it has happened again.

Current senior Camden Baxter was the first local learner to accomplish the prestigious academic feat, when he made a perfect score in the spring of 2024.

Now, only one year later, CCHS junior Witt Kaslikowski has replicated the effort.

When asked for his secret behind the remarkable score, Kaslikowski revealed scoring “36 on the ACT has been a goal of mine for a long time.”

“I knew that it could open up more opportunities in the future for me,” he said.  “Taking practice tests is what helped me, repetition over and over, and figuring out the question types.”

Kaslikowski was taking the exam for the sixth time, dating back to his first attempt as a 7th-grader, and he cites his familiarity with the test as a contributing factor to his success.

“It’s not necessarily what you know, but knowing how to answer the questions,” he explained.

Kaslikowski took the annual test alongside 70 of his 11th-grade peers on Tuesday March 18th to complete graduation requirements for the state.

The 71 test-takers performed well overall, recording an average composite score of 18.87, which was up slightly from last year’s 18.72, and was tremendously higher than the 16.8 recorded in 2023.

CCHS ACT coordinator and chemistry teacher Amanda Craighead places the reason for improvement on the students’ efforts.

“The kids did a phenomenal job of showing up and giving their best effort, and that’s all we can ask,” Craighead said.  “The teachers have spent a lot of time trying to prepare the students for the ACT, and we appreciate seeing them show up and utilize that preparation.”

Second-year principal Mike Dickerson lauded both Baxter and Kaslikowski for their unique accomplishments.

“They worked to get to this point,” Dickerson said.  “It’s not something that just happened.

“It was a process that required them to continually improve their personal effort and ability.”

Dickerson credited both teachers and students for his school improving for the second straight year on the statewide exam.

“That’s teachers working in the classroom, that’s students caring about the test and actually trying to score well,” he said.  “When both of those groups care about it and work at it, you’re going to see improvement.”

On average, local students were balanced on the four subparts of the exam.

The lowest area was reading, with an average of 18.32, preceded by English (18.39), math (18.83), and the highest area of science (19.19).

Of the 71 juniors, there were 33 that recorded the traditional college entry score of 19 or higher, while 21 students scored the college-readiness benchmark composite of 21 or higher.