LR student nabs perfect ACT score

Rising senior at Central High earns 36 on his second try

Chandler Smith has done a lot for a person who just turned 17.

He built his own computer. He taught himself Java computer programming. And this spring, he scored a perfect 36 on the ACT college entrance exam.

Smith, now a rising senior at Little Rock Central High School, has taken the ACT twice and received a perfect score on his last attempt in March, when he took the exam along with other juniors.

He is one of just three Arkansas students who have earned a perfect score on the college readiness exam in 2014. Last year, 10 students achieved it.

Nationally, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of test takers make that top score.

But ask anyone who knows Smith, and they’ll tell you he’s not the type to go around bragging about his achievement.

“He is brilliant, but he doesn’t need to let you know that he’s smart,” said Stephany CQ Alhajjaj, CQ a Central High teacher who had Smith in her programming and Advanced Placement computer science classes.

“He’s very confident in that, and he doesn’t need to show you or make you feel bad.”

Alhajjaj, who supervises the school’s programming club, said Smith is a highly motivated student. Last year, he taught himself a difficult programming language for a competition.

“I told him if he wanted to go to the competition he had to learn Java, and he did in a matter of a few weeks,” she said.

Smith said it was pretty simple.

“[Alhajjaj] gave me a website,” he Smith said. “Some of my friends who were taking computer science showed me some, too. And just from other programming, knowing the concepts is helpful.”

Smith said he enjoys learning programming in his free time, and he’d eventually like to work for some type of software company.

Last year, he built his own desktop computer with the help of his brother Thomas Smith, a PhD Ph.D. candidate in biomedical sciences at the University of California at San Diego.

“You just buy all the parts, and then it kind of just all snaps together,” Chandler Smith said. “There’s lots of YouTube videos about how to do it.”

Smith’s parents, Horace and Jennifer Smith, said their son has always been a quick learner.

Jennifer Smith, associate vice president for benefits for the Arkansas State University system, said her son learned to play chess at Barnes & Noble with members of the Little Rock Chess Club at a young age.

“At 4, he was down there playing, and he would play against grown-ups,” she said. “Almost in diapers still, playing chess. People would stand around and watch him because he was so little.”

While Chandler Smith no longer plays chess, he uses those problem-solving skills in his other activities, which include quiz bowl, science quiz bowl and a robotics club, the Southeastern Consortium of Minorities in Engineering.

All of Smith’s hard work is paying off. Smith said he has received lots of mail from colleges since 10th grade, when he scored a 35 on the ACT.

“If he stacked it all up, he’s probably gotten this much college information,” said Jennifer Smith, indicating the height of the brown leather recliner in the living room of the family’s Little Rock home.

This summer, Chandler Smith and his parents are touring colleges so he can look at his options.

Despite his success, Smith’s parents say it’s not their son’s academic achievements that make him stand out.

“Chandler has received a lot of attention for the academic achievements, but the biggest thing is that he’s just a very nice person,” said Horace Smith, education consultant and former director of board development for the Arkansas School Board Association.

“He takes life in stride and just has a wonderful attitude. Next year when he leaves home, we’re really going to miss him.”

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