High school junior Kenly Chau sees his time at Warren Central High School as the latest step in a journey toward a successful life. 

“If you know the stuff in one grade, and you do actually know it, the stuff in the next grade will be able to be linked to that – you can build on it,” he said. 

Chau is remarkable for scoring a perfect 36 on the ACT – twice. He brings his intelligence into the classroom and shares it with other students. Among them is Amber Glenn, a senior who describes Chau as always the first one with his hand up. He can answer every question and go in depth, she said. 

There are no statistics available about just how many people can obtain a perfect score twice, but most sources put the percentage of one-time perfect score makers at about .076 percent. Chau took the test earlier than most students and then was required to take it again as a junior.

“He gives us an insight that not even the teachers can give us sometimes,” she said. 

His success in school may lie in his unique perspective. For Chau, every subject he learns about is related and connected to another. 

“Sometimes things from one subject area may affect stuff from another subject area,” he said. “Any links that you can make between different subjects helps a lot.”

English, he said, allows him to explore different documents, such as books about different settings that give you different perspectives of different time periods that you can use in social studies.

With social studies there’s a chance to look at different historical discoveries, he said.

“That can be linked to the sciences,” he said. “Sciences are, at their core, a lot of math. And math can be used to organize a lot of stuff in English: putting things in different order, putting things together – a more logical way of looking at it.” 

Chau is a former student of Emily Comer, the school’s guidance counselor who taught him pre-calculus and calculus and attested to his cross-discipline proficiency. 

“I think he just pushes himself to do his personal best and is motivated in that way,” she said. Scoring perfectly on the ACT is impressive, she said, because each test is unique. 

“We are very proud of him for what he’s accomplished,” Comer said.

When it comes to taking the ACT, Chau’s advice was to avoid panic and stay calm. Tough questions can be guessed at, lightly marked and revisited later, he said

“If you feel like you’re taking too much time on a question you probably are,” he said. “If you do start feeling confused or stressed out it probably means you need to look away from the paper for a little bit.” 

Staying calm is also the key to doing well in school, he said. 

“Feel free to step back and see if you can put things in order,” he said. 

In the worst-case scenario, he said, it helps to look at things from a cost effective perspective. 

“If something from one class is gonna take you a long time but isn’t gonna do much, you may be better off studying for a test,” he said. 

Chau has a grasp of all the disciplines he studies, but he’s most interested in math and science. 

“The rules there are the rules,” he said, adding that in subjects like English every rule has an exception. 

Chau described English as his first fluent language. Chau was born in the U.S. after his parents came to America as refugees fleeing a civil war in Cambodia in southeast Asia. Chau learned some Khmer from his parents and later replaced most of it with English. 

Just like his father, Chau is aiming for a career in manufacturing, working as an engineer. He’s thinking of attending the University of Kentucky, what he describes as the next step in his journey. Although he’s a junior, he’ll be graduating early this spring. 

Michele LeNoir, Chau’s advanced placement English teacher, said he’s grown from the “quietly reflective” student he used to be. 

“Now he has grown to the point where he’s more communicative,” she said. 

Glenn sees Chau’s success extending beyond high school. 

“I think he’s going to do pretty great things with his life,” she said. 

— Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter at twitter.com/aaron_muddbgdn or visit bgdailynews.com.