The son of a Filipina nurse and a Salvadoran maintenance worker got a perfect score on his Advanced Placement Calculus exam, one of only 12 (out of 302,531!) in the entire world to do so.
Cedrick Argueta, a 17-year-old senior who described himself as a quiet and humble guy, has become a celebrity at Abraham Lincoln High School, a school of a little over 1,000 students in the Latino neighborhood Lincoln Heights in Los Angeles, CA.
"It just sort of blew up," Argueta told the Los Angeles Times "It feels kind of good to be in the spotlight for a little bit, but I want to give credit to everybody else that helped me along the way." He took time to thank his teacher, friends and family for the great accomplishment.
"I have to put in a lot hard work and, as true for anything, if you want to get good at something, hard work is the key," he added.
Argueta is the son of Lilian and Marcos Argueta, both of whom are immigrants. His mom who is from the Philippines is a licensed vocational nurse who works two jobs at nursing homes. His dad, who never went to high school, is from El Salvador and is a maintenance worker at one of those nursing homes his wife works in.
So, what is next for Argueta? Once he graduates in June, he hopes to attend Caltech and become an engineer who will one day have his name on something that is known around the world.
Source: The Los Angeles Times contributed to this story.
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