Cary high school student earns perfect ACT score

CARY, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Cary high school student scored a perfect score on the ACT!

Rishik Pavani is a rising senior at Panther Creek High School, and as you can imagine, his perfect ACT score is not the first rare academic achievement he's accomplished.

Earlier this summer, Pavani was one of 18 North Carolina high school students to win a 48-hour cyber security competition. Those 18 students were among just 600 across the entire country to be named National Cyber Scholars.

Pavani has also been accepted into the Quantum Cryptography School for Young Students, a summer program based on quantum computing at the University of Waterloo in Canada. That program is being held virtually this year due to COVID-19.

As for the ACT, Pavani is one of a few thousand students across the country to accomplish the feat. In the Class of 2020, only 5,579 out of 1.67 million students earned the perfect score.

As a rising senior, Pavani is just starting the college application process. He has his eyes on UNC, Duke, NC State, as well as Georgia Tech.

Pavani is interested in pursuing physics, cybersecurity and quantum technologies. No matter where he choses to focus, it's clear he will be an asset to the field.