FORNEY, Texas — At 12 years old, Gabriel Kersch, a 5th grade Blackburn Elementary School student, set out to master his STAAR tests.
FORNEY, Texas — At 12 years old, Gabriel Kersch, a 5th grade Blackburn Elementary School student, set out to master his STAAR tests.
Earlier this week, Gabriel and his parents received the final test results — Gabriel had not only achieved the Masters Grade Level, the highest level reserved for near-perfect scores, but he had scored perfect on the reading, science, and mathematics STAAR tests.
Gabriel’s father, David Kersch, says his son is self-motivated and an exceptionally brilliant student who continues to challenge himself academically and raises his own expectations. In fact, it was Gabriel who told his parents he had set out to achieve a perfect score.
Not only does Gabriel excel in academics, Kersch says his son is compassionate — donating his allowance to animal rescues and shelters and collects and distributes clothing to the homeless in Dallas.
After high school, Gabriel has his eyes set on Harvard, Princeton, Yale or MIT so he can, in his own words, “get the best education that I can” in hopes of one day becoming a scientist and discovering a cure for leukemia.
“I was a little nervous because I knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Gabriel told inForney.com. “I also knew that if I tried my hardest I could do it.”
Gabriel said he needed a lot of confidence as the tests neared.
With reassurances from his parents and a lot of studying, Gabriel said he felt good about his math and reading tests with the latter being his strongest subject. After receiving 100s on both tests, he says the pressure only intensified when it came time to take the science test.
Nervous, he turned in his test and waited until June 14 to receive his score — the final 100.
Gabriel credits his “very smart mother and very smart father” for his successes. The feeling, achieving a perfect score on all three tests, is “amazing,” he says.
As for David, he says he’s the proudest father in Texas.