Student achieves perfect score
By Ben Saylor
Rocky River
Published July 2, 2008

It’s three in a row for Rocky River High School, as 2008 marks the third consecutive year a student has achieved a perfect score of 36 on the ACT.

Colin Crawford began the streak in 2006, and Jasmine Corbin followed in 2007. This year, it was Mary Farah, who took the college entrance exam in April, who achieved the perfect score.

Farah, 17, said the April exam was the first time she had taken the official test, although she had taken two practice versions in preparation. Other than the practice tests, Farah said she did not do anything special to prepare for the exam other than to get plenty of sleep beforehand and eat a good breakfast.

The good night’s sleep advice came courtesy of Farah’s brother Benjamin, 20, who was speaking from experience, as he too achieved a perfect score on the ACT.

While taking the test, Farah said she was a little concerned about the writing portion.

“Overall, I felt pretty good throughout the entire thing,” Farah told West Life.

Farah found out about her perfect score a few weeks after taking the exam; rather than wait for results to come in the mail, she looked it up online. Her reaction?

“I was a little bit surprised, but I was very glad,” Farah said. Farah was one of only nine Ohio students out of the 37,500 students to take the ACT in April to achieve a perfect score, according to a letter to Farah from ACT CEO Richard L. Ferguson. She was one of 172 students nationwide and abroad, out of approximately 400,000 students, to achieve a perfect score that month, the letter noted.

Farah, who will be a senior this year, is already thinking about where she wants to go to college. She listed the University of Chicago as her first choice, but she is also considering Northwestern University, Brown University, Wellesley College, The Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University and New York University. She said she plans to pursue linguistics, with a possible future career in research.

Farah currently studies Spanish and German at the high school, and said she’s “always been a language nerd.” In her junior year, Farah’s courseload included, besides her language courses, advanced placement biology and chemistry courses.

“I like science, but it was definitely a challenge,” Farah said. Next year’s schedule includes advanced placement courses in English, physics, calculus and Spanish, as well as a general psychology class at Cuyahoga County Community College. She is also involved with the school’s forensics team, Environmental Club, Gay and Straight Alliance, the Academic Challenge team as well as the organizations Job’s Daughters and Children of the American Revolution. Her cumulative grade point average is 4.463, and she is eighth in her class of 242.

High School Principal Debbie Bernard described Farah as a “model student.”

“We’re very proud and feel very fortunate to have her as a member of our student body,” Farah told West Life. “We look forward to her senior year with us.”

Farah’s mother Ann told West Life that while she is certainly proud of her daughter’s academic achievements, they shouldn’t obscure her strong personality.

“She’s just a kind and loving person to everyone. That means more than anything,” Ann said. “But,” she added, “The test scores are nice, too.”