Fil-Am aces calculus test, gets Obama invite to White House

No less than US President Barack Obama invited a Filipino-American student to the White House after getting a perfect score in a calculus exam.

In his official Twitter account, Obama shared an article of the Los Angeles Times about 17-year-old senior Cedrick Argueta of Lincoln High School, and asked if he could come to the White House Science Fair next week.

The LA Times reported that Argueta, the son of a Filipina nurse and a Salvadoran maintenance worker, was one of the only 12 who aced the Advanced Placement Calculus test out of 302,531 students.

“It’s crazy. Twelve people in the whole world to do this and I was one of them? It’s amazing,” Argueta was quoted as saying.

The report said Argueta, who described himself as a “quiet and humble” guy, has become somewhat of a celebrity in his school, with his friends calling him as “One of the Twelve.”

Principal Jose Torres reportedly said that Argueta’s achievement was “mind-blowing.”

“It’s the first time I’ve had something of this magnitude. A lot of kids expected him to be the one,” Torres said.

Argueta took the AP Calculus AB exam, a three-hour test administered by the nonprofit College Board for possible college credit, in May last year.

The report said Argueta learned that he earned the top score of 5 over the summer, but added that he had no idea that he got every question right until last week’s announcement. RC

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