Cooper Moree may be a man of few words, but his ACT score speaks plenty loud enough for the Columbia Academy STAR Student.
With how competitive CA is with its high ACT scores schoolwide, Moree said it means a lot to him that he came out on top with a 34 composite score and 35 super score. His commitment showed with his progress as he started out with a 23 the first time he took it, soared to a 29 his second time and steadily progressed as he took the ACT 11 times. Through that process, he learned that studying for it didn’t really help but that taking it over and over taught him how to ace the test.
While there wasn’t any particular unveiling that he was CA’s STAR Student — he already knew he had the best ACT score — he said he and his parents were very happy that he had earned it.
Moree plans to attend Ole Miss, but at this point he is completely undecided as to what he wants to major in or what he wants to do for a career. He has always wanted to go Ole Miss as he and his family frequent Rebels football games, and he has family that lives in the Oxford area.
“I’ve always wanted to go there, and it just feels right being up there,” he said. “I went to boys state up there and stayed in the dorms for a week and really liked it.”
The upcoming graduate said Kellie Watts, his selection for STAR Teacher, was the most helpful to him. After taking her class for just one year, his ACT score in Reading and English rose 13 points. He also thanked Jane Middleton and Rebecca Bass for helping him a lot with math and science.
“If (Watts) wouldn’t have taught me, my score wouldn’t be what it is. She has a hard class,” Moree said. “She drilled us on grammar for two years, and we read stories every week and answered essay questions on them. That really helped me.”
Watts said it means a lot to be selected as STAR Teacher by someone like Moree because while he is articulate and highly intelligent, he’s not the type of person who wears his heart on his sleeve.
“For him to choose me means a lot to me personally because I think a lot of Cooper. I think a lot of his intelligence and who he is as a person,” she said. “As a teacher, you have those go-to kids who are always going to know what’s going on. If I call on Cooper, I always knew he was going to give me the right answer then go next-level deep with it.”
She added that he’s also a really hard worker, and even if he had to do last-minute work, she knew it was going to be excellent.
After Moree took the ACT for the first time, Watts scheduled a meeting with Moree and his mom and told them what she believed he was capable of if he put in the work. He told her that he wanted to go to Ole Miss, and she told him that if he stayed the course, he would not only go to Ole Miss for free but get paid to go there, which turned out to be the case.
“I don’t know what he’s going to do, but I’m really excited to see it,” Watts said.
Moree’s favorite memories throughout high school all come from homecoming week. He said he really enjoyed the football game, going rolling every night and not having to do a whole lot of work in the classroom.
For younger students wanting to excel on the ACT test, Moree encourages them not to stress about it, go into it relaxed and take it as many times as you can because your score will continue to increase.
Moree is the son of Cary and Amy Moree.
