Cedrick Argueta was called to the principal’s office about his AP Calculus score. When you get called into the principal about a test it’s either because administration thinks you cheated or because you did something insane. Argueta didn’t cheat, though people might assume it, because the kid nailed a perfect score.
He’s in rare company too — of the 302,531 students to take the notoriously mind-crushing test, he was one of only 12 to earn every single point. Only 1 of 12. Now, he’s a local celeb.
Since word of his feat has spread, the lanky 17-year-old senior – who described himself as a quiet, humble guy – has become something of a celebrity at Lincoln High, a school of about 1,200 students in the heavily Latino Lincoln Heights neighborhood.
At a school assembly, students shouted, “Ced-rick! Ced-rick!” when Principal Jose Torres announced his score. Friends started calling him “One of Twelve.”
And Torres said this week that he might as well become the teen’s booking agent, laughing as he held up a typed schedule of Cedrick’s media interviews.
“It’s mind-blowing,” said Torres, who has worked within LAUSD for 31 years. “It’s the first time I’ve had something of this magnitude. A lot of kids expected him to be the one.”
Argueta knew he did well — he got his rough score of a 5 out of 5 over the summer — but didn’t know he scored perfect until this week.
To celebrate, the Arguetas took Cedrick to Roy’s, his favorite restaurant in Pasadena, where he ordered a big pork shank. He was still excited about the free souffle the waiters brought him after learning his score.
Your god damn right they did.
[via LA Times]