Ben Hejna was dressed to the nines and taking pictures with his friends the night of the Batavia High School spring prom when a text message flashed from his dad — his ACT results were in. When Ben asked for the results, he received the cryptic reply that he could find out when he returned from his night of revelry.
When Ben responded that he needed to know ASAP, his dad texted a picture of the results — a 36, the highest possible score.
“It came as a complete shock,” said Ben, who was honored at a recent District 101 board meeting. “I took practice tests and I got a 32 and 33, so I was hoping for a 34.”
With that 36, Ben joins the one-tenth of one percent of students who achieve the highest possible score on the college readiness test. The Batavia senior with a top GPA now has to figure out which Ivy League college will be his next stop.
Success has always come easy to Ben, who was identified early in his kindergarten year as a gifted learner by a kindergarten teacher at Hoover-Wood School in Batavia, according to his mother. When the principal and teacher reached out to his parents and then tested 5-year-old Ben, he tested at a third-grade level, his mother, Ann Hejna, said. They decided to move him to first grade.
While in kindergarten Ben was reluctant to leave his newfound friends, it was a quick transition.
“It’s always felt like my class,” said Ben, who will be in the graduating class of 2015. “I’ve never felt like the current juniors.”
While Ben prefers science and math classes (he scored an 800, the highest possible mark, on the math portion of the SAT as a freshman) and plans to focus on engineering in college, he credits his AP Language class at Batavia High his junior year with helping him achieve his ACT score of 36. That, plus his slate of other challenging courses, prepared him, he said.
He also runs track at Batavia and has a big goal in sight for his senior year — to qualify for state in the triple jump. He’s come a long way since eighth grade, he said.
“I’ve never been the most athletic kid, and I was just god awful,” he said. “But something happened between eighth grade and freshman year. My first triple jump as a freshman was 10 feet further than in eighth grade.”
He also enjoys playing the trombone in the school band. On a typical day, he might be practicing his trombone, working out with friends, or watching a little Netflix. He’s quick to say that he doesn’t hole himself with up with a stack of textbooks on Friday night. Once he focuses, he’s able to tear through his schoolwork fairly quickly, then he’s off to do something else he enjoys, he said.
“It’s pretty natural for me,” he said. “I’m not just shoving my face in a textbook all night.”
He wants to take that well-rounded approach to college. He’s looking for a rigorous school that will also encourage delving into other activities than the course work, he said.
His mother, Ann, said she’s excited to see what opportunities unfold next for Ben. They’ve watched him succeed from the time he was just a toddler reading signs out the window as she drove the car.
The 36 affirmed that Ben was challenged and prepared during his school career, she said.
“To say we’re thrilled is an understatement,” she said.