Senior Keira McNelis from Notre Dame Preparatory (NDP), one of seven Catholic high schools in the Diocese of Phoenix, recently received news that very few students across the nation hear. The letter read “A perfect score!”
McNelis earned the highest possible composite score of 36 on the ACT, a standardized college admissions test that assesses English, mathematics, reading and science.
About one-quarter of one percent of students who take the ACT earn a top score. In the U.S. high school graduating class of 2024, only 3,041 out of 1.37 million students who took the ACT earned a top composite score of 36.
“This is an exceptional achievement for Keira,” NDP Principal Brie Dragonetti said. “She is not only gifted academically, but Keira is a talented actress, singer and devoted friend to her peers. We are so happy for her.”
For McNelis, this means she will attend her dream school, Dartmouth College, in the fall of 2026.
“I’m very excited about my score,” McNelis said. “It makes my hard work worth it. But honestly, I want to thank my AP teachers for teaching me in such a way that the test made sense to me.” She especially credits her math teachers through the years, Mrs. Leslie Flam, Mrs. Juby Luensmann and Mrs. Cynthia Barberio.
NDP, located in Scottsdale, Ariz., and founded in 2002, is a Catholic diocesan college preparatory high school with a co-ed enrollment of 997 students. It has received national recognition for its academic, arts and athletic programs. Most recently, NDP was recognized as a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education.
