BELLEVILLE — Belleville High School Senior Aidan Perry (Class of 2025) has been selected by the College Board’s National Rural and Small Town Recognition program for Outstanding Academic Achievement. Awardees were announced on Aug. 1, 2024.
High-performing, underrepresented high school students are recognized by the College Board for their academic achievements in one of five categories nationally— National African American Recognition Program, National First-Generation Recognition Program (beginning in 2024), National Hispanic Recognition Program, National Indigenous Recognition Program, and National Rural and Small Town Recognition Program.
The National Rural and Small Town Recognition Program evaluates students during their junior year who perform at a high academic level. To be eligible for this recognition, students:
● Must have a GPA of B+ (equal to at least 3.3 or 87%-89%) or higher at the time they are submitting. Weighted and unweighted GPAs are considered.
● Must have a permanent address in the United States, a U.S. territory or U.S. military base, or attend a DoDEA school. U.S. citizenship is not required.
● Must identify as Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic, Indigenous/Native, first-generation college student, or attend high school in a rural area or small town.
● Must be in the top 10% among PSAT 10 and PSAT/NMSQT test takers in 11th grade in their state for their award program OR have received a 3+ score on at least 2 distinct AP Exams by the end of 10th grade.
Perry’s achievement was highlighted by the Belleville School Board at their September meeting. District Administrator Jim Schmitt notes, “Aidan is a very talented, committed, and hard-working student. This honor is one of many high school accomplishments that are launching Aidan toward future success.”
As a high school junior, Aidan was also part of his high school ExMASS team under the direction of teacher Erin Treder with his research partner Ari Mehta. The team won NASA’s national high school competition and participated in the 2024 NASA Exploration Science Forum held in July at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. There the duo was additionally awarded Honorable Mention for their conference poster and presentation.
Currently, Aidan is also enrolled as a special high school student at UW-Madison for math during the 2024-2025 school year. Perry is taking Topics in Multi-Variable Calculus and Linear Algebra. He resides in Monroe and is the son of Marie Fritz Perry and the late Dr. James H. Perry. Perry looks forward to pursuing mathematics as his major field of study when he continues his college education after graduation next June.
