Three students who aced the ACT while still in middle school made the news Tuesday when University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials offered them full-tuition scholarships to attend college.
The Omaha World-Herald, KMTV (CBS) and WOWT (NBC) were among news outlets that posted stories about events honoring Ava Steele, an eighth-grader at Westside Community Middle School, and Allison Luo, a ninth-grader at Brownell-Talbot high school. The WOWT story was carried by several outlets across the country, including KSPR in Springfield, Missouri; WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia; WNDU in South Bend, Indiana; WRDW in Augusta, Georgia; WSAW in Wausau, Wisconsin; and KXII in Sherman, Texas. The Scottsbluff Star-Herald and KNEB Radio in Scottsbluff reported on Jamie Chen, an eighth grader at Bluffs Middle School.
Chancellor Ronnie Green visited the Westside Middle School to present the scholarship to Steele, 13. Steele, the daughter of Joe Steele and Ann Gallagher, took the ACT at age 12 in December.
Amber Williams, director of admissions, presented a scholarship to Luo, 14. Luo took the test in September 2015 while she was an eighth grader at Millard North Middle School. Her mother is Haizhen Zhu and her father is Xu Luo.
Chen, 12, was presented her scholarship by Jack Whittier, director of the Panhandle Research and Extension Center. She took the test in September.
All three students received perfect scores on at least one section of the ACT college entrance exam. The scholarship, which is worth approximately $27,000 at 2016-17 tuition rates, would cover a bachelor’s degree, or 120 credit hours.
