Gulfport High School celebrates the best of the best

GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) - Fifty-two of Gulfport High School’s best and brightest are being celebrated for their academic achievement. Banners hang in the school showing off those students who have scored 30 or higher on the ACT.

School officials say a score of 30 or higher is better than 93% of test takers in the nation. The 2-foot by 4-foot banners hung in the school are a visual representation of years of learning.

“We have an ACT team here comprised of several teachers and we emphasize the ACT in bell-ringers on a weekly basis. We make sure that we constantly keep these things before our students’ eyes so that they can be aware of the types of things that they’ll face on the test,” said GHS Principal, Dr. Oswago Harper.

But for these admirals, it was years of hard work and dedication finally paying off.

“We’ve had ACT classes and courses. I even took an ACT course last year. It took constant drilling and trying to get a higher score. I think we all worked really hard and studied hard to get these scores. This is the final culmination of that hard work,” said GHS ACT Club Senior Julian Dedeaux.

GHS ACT Club Junior Michael Hage said students who don’t accomplish their goal score on the first try should keep at it.

“I had been in an ACT prep class here at Gulfport High and it helped a lot, just drilling the ACT every day. Don’t give up. Just doing it every single day helps so much,” said, Hage.

“Really the ACT is time-based. If you can get done working under pressure and in time, as long as you can get the accuracy correct, you can do anything,” said GHS ACT Club Junior Katherine McCormick.

The banners will be on display in the school’s entrance and in the cafeteria until next year’s round of students are honored.

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