歪歪漫画

DULUTH 鈥� Like many high school seniors, Phoenix Ocean was worried she wouldn鈥檛 be able to take the ACT before applying to colleges. Ocean, a Duluth Denfeld High 歪歪漫画 senior, was scheduled to take the test last spring but her test was canceled due to the pandemic.

She was finally able to take it last fall.

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 feeling quite sure about how it went because it was in such an unusual setting,鈥� Ocean said.

Ocean took the ACT in the gymnasium with other students spread out 6 feet apart.

鈥淚鈥檝e never taken any sort of test in the gym before, besides a physical one,鈥� she said.

But the different setting clearly didn鈥檛 hinder Ocean as she scored a 36, the highest possible score on the ACT.

鈥淚 got a letter in the mail that had my score and I almost couldn鈥檛 believe my eyes when I was reading it. I thought I must be reading it wrong,鈥� Ocean said. 鈥淭hen I read the letter all the way through and realized that it was a 36 and it was so shocking and so exciting.鈥�

Ocean ran out of her room to tell her mother, Rachel Mock, the good news. Mock said she had never taken the ACT before so when Ocean notified her, she didn鈥檛 quite know how to react at first.

鈥淚 was like, 鈥業s that good? What does that mean?鈥欌�� Mock said, adding that she then realized almost right away that 鈥渋t鈥檚 remarkable and exceptional. Just totally amazing.鈥�

Out of the 1.67 million students who took the ACT in 2020, only 5,579 students scored a 36. In Minnesota, only 169 students scored a 36 of the 56,705 students who took it.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been hard as a mom to see this senior year just be a long string of disappointments, so it just feels like such a relief to have something that we can just be 100% joyful about,鈥� Mock said.

As for the future, Ocean said she hopes to attend her dream school, the University of Chicago. She said she鈥檚 not sure what she wants to study yet but is leaning toward something English related.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a beautiful city and I鈥檝e been there a few times,鈥� Ocean said. 鈥淥verall, everything I鈥檝e heard about it has been super positive and all the literature I鈥檝e gotten from them is very interesting.鈥�

Mock said she鈥檚 really proud of her daughter.

鈥淚t鈥檚 beautiful to watch her pursue her own interests with such passion, drive, determination and grit,鈥� she said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 totally her own person and she鈥檚 always been really academically oriented and definitely embodies that Capricorn excellence that she was born with.鈥�

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Though Ocean has been distance learning since March when COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, she has still managed to stay involved in her school as well as the school district as a whole.

For the past year, Ocean has served as the Denfeld student representative on the Duluth 歪歪漫画 Board. Ocean has worked with her counterpart on the 歪歪漫画 Board, East High 歪歪漫画 senior Nabiha Imtiaz, to present a united front on issues that are important to students.

They have both been vocal about school resource officers, distance learning issues and student mental health issues during distance learning.

Ocean said her experience on the 歪歪漫画 Board has taught her a lot more than she expected.

鈥淚t鈥檚 taught me about how to do research and how to present ideas,鈥� Ocean said. 鈥淚t also taught me how to accept when my ideas are not necessarily accepted right away and how to deal with that and turn it around so I can keep moving forward.鈥�

When asked if she would ever consider running for public office in the future, Ocean said she wasn鈥檛 sure.

鈥淚f I were to it would definitely be a long way down the road,鈥� she said.