There is a trio of perfection coming out of the Chinook's Edge School Division.
Two Innisfail High School students and one from Olds High School have scored perfect 100 per cent marks on their Math 30-1 diploma exams. That remarkable achievement was celebrated at the division's board of trustees monthly meeting on April 12.
The two high achieving Innisfail Grade 12 students are best pals Faith Gette, 18, and 17-year-old Riona Wiberg. The perfect scoring Olds High School student is 17-year-old Nolan Moody.
"It is quite rare for a student to get a perfect score in a diploma exam. In my time I don't recall seeing a teacher having two students get 100 per cent on their diploma exams. It isn't about perfection but we wanted to honour the uniqueness of that achievement," said Kurt Sacher, the division's superintendent of schools, who added the division also gets several students who score in the high 90s, and many, many more who also score exceptionally well.
Sacher noted every student in Alberta that wants to succeed with Math 30-1 is required to write a provincial assessment. Since Sept. 1, 2015 Alberta Education has mandated school marks count for 70 per cent and diploma exam marks make up 30 per cent of a student's final mark in Alberta diploma courses, a change from the former 50-50 formula first introduced in the 1980s.
"It is a pretty elite math course. It is typically for students going on to a math related field such as engineering or pure mathematics itself," said Sacher of the Math 30-1 course. "It's not taken by every student, but it is an academically demanding course so we should be proud of the students and we should be proud of the staff and the teachers from K to 12 who helped set these kids up for success. It is a team effort, and we are really proud of the teacher at Innisfail high. They have really done well."
Moody said it was a "great feeling" to earn the perfect score, one of his greatest achievements to date in his young academic career.
"With great teachers and great parents and the support they gave me this was awesome. Lots of support, and that is what the key is," said the Olds high Grade 12 student. "It was difficult and there was one question on the math test that really kind of hooked me but I luckily went back to it and got it right."
As for the two young Innisfail ladies who scored 100 per cent, perfection was made even better as they have been best friends for most of their lives.
"We have been going to school together for 13 years so it means we are both getting to the same page," said Wiberg, who is planning to go to the University of Alberta to earn a bachelor of science degree, and later beyond for additional studies.
Gette said she was also proud the rest of her class led by teacher Erin Lapierre Hand did well on the provincial diploma exams.
"Our class average was about 20 per cent higher than the provincial (average). It was an all-around good class," said Gette.
Scott MacDonald, vice-principal at Innisfail High School, noted two other students recorded scores of 98 per cent.
"Two 100s and two 98s from the same class? That is unheard of," he said.
And possibly the person proudest of the academic success at Innisfail high was Lapierre Hand.
"I am really proud of all the students and how hard they worked through the entire semester to go back and master the concepts they have learned, and not just these two, but also all of the students in the class," she said.
Kurt Sacher, superintendent of schools for Chinook's Edge School Division
"It is quite rare for a student to get a perfect score in a diploma exam. In my time I don't recall seeing a teacher having two students get 100 per cent on their diploma exams."
