5 Utahns get perfect scores on ACT

It was a dead TV that got Jared Bruton into reading around two hours a day in early elementary school. That led to a love of learning and studying.

So maybe it was no surprise that the Duchesne High senior, along with four other Utah students, got a perfect score of 36 on the ACT. But what did raise eyebrows is the fact that a total of five students got perfect marks when last year only one Utah student got earned the rare grade.

Thursday the students, as well as their principals, were recognized by Utah System of Higher Education Interim Commissioner David Buhler during the "Reaching for the Stars: Opportunity for ALL Utah Students" conference for educators in Sandy.

Along with Bruton, Andy Dahl of Logan High School, Alex Hanson of Olympus High School, Daniel Posch of Waterford High School and Kimberly Richardson of Weber High School all received perfect marks.

The ACT consists of tests in English, mathematics, reading and science. Each test is scored on a scale of 1-36, and a student's composite score is the average of the four test scores.

Posch was the only Utah student to earn a top score of 36 out of nearly 10,000 test takers in Utah during the April 2007 national test day. Nationally, more than 400,000 took the test with only 48 achieving a score of 36.

Dahl, Hanson and Richardson were the only three Utah students of 6,000 to achieve a 36 composite score on the June 2007 national test date. Nearly 400,000 students took the test across the country on that day and 177 of them earned a 36 composite score.

Bruton was the only Utah student of 10,000 to achieve a top score of 36 during the October 2007 test day — more than 450,000 tests were administered nationwide that day with 63 students achieving a top score of 36.

All five students are set to graduate at the end of this school year and plan on attending schools including Harvard, Stanford and Brigham Young University.

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E-mail: terickson@desnews.com