Any of you MUCsters know or know of this fellow?
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ
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MUSICIAN, SCHOLAR, JUGGLER HAS HIS TOTAL ACT TOGETHER
Lela Garlington
Lela Garlington garlington@gomemphis.com
543 words
30 January 2003
The Commercial Appeal Memphis, TN
Final
CC6
English
(Copyright 2003)
He juggles while riding his unicycle. He’s been accepted under early admission to Harvard, Cal-Tech (the MIT of the West) and the University of Chicago.
And, in his spare time, White Station High valedictorian Kev Adler is one of 58 college-bound students in the country to make a perfect score of 36 on his ACT test.
The 17-year-old also is the only student in West Tennessee to make a perfect score during this testing period. The other four Tennessee students who answered all the questions correctly are from Middle and East Tennessee.
Adler took the test last fall, along with about 20,500 other Tennessee students and 419,500 across the country.
Barry McCrory, Adler’s advanced placement physics teacher, wasn’t surprised at how well his student did on the test.
“Kev always pushes himself to be the best he can be,” said McCrory. “He goes out of his way to take himself to the next level.”
His mother, Diane Adler, also expected a high score from her son. “When he was 12, he made a 28 on the ACT,” she recalled. “We thought he would do really well.”
Until now, Mrs. Adler said few people knew about the score. “His counselor told me, he is so humble. If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t know.”
Adler admitted he rushed through some of the science questions because he was running out of time. “There were a few I wasn’t sure about,” he said. Overall, he added, however, “I thought it was all pretty easy.”
Just as his ACT score was becoming old news, Adler received notification last week that he’s a candidate for the Presidential Scholars Program that recognizes students with exceptional talent in the visual, creative and performing arts. He’ll find out in April if he makes the cut to be one of 500 semifinalists, with the final selection in May.
For the past four years, Adler has performed for the Memphis Youth Symphony playing the French horn. While taking two college- level math courses last summer at Harvard, Adler also joined the Harvard Summer Orchestra and the Harvard Summer Pops Band.
Adler is the son of Diane, a homemaker, and Kevitt Adler, president of a local computer software company.
Like an academic top draft pick, the young Adler is waiting for the right college to show him the money.
His mom and his kid sister, Adrienne, 14, wouldn’t mind if he decided on Harvard. “She told me, ‘Mom, I sure did like Cambridge and Harvard Square.’ If he does go, I’ll be going to Filene’s Basement (department store).”
At this point, Adler is keeping his options open. “I’m still looking at what I can get in terms of scholarships,” Adler said. So far, he is leaning toward Cal-Tech where he likely would major in math or physics and possibly go to graduate or medical school afterward.
- Lela Garlington: 529-2349
