MARYSVILLE Lakewood High School freshman Mitchel Gogert was honored as a WASL wizard by the Lakewood School Board last week, but it took the ninth-grader a lot of work to achieve a perfect score on the reading portion of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning test, a graduation requirement for all students entering high school.
Lakewood School District superintendent Larry Francois presented Gogert with a plaque at the school boards Oct. 18 meeting for achieving a perfect score of 500 on the eighth-grade reading portion and the districts top score on the science portion. Gogert came within a whisker of getting the districts top score on the math test as well, Francois told the board.
He took two out of three and came close on the third, Francois said, adding that Gogerts prefect score feat is the first in districts history.
By comparison, the Arlington School District had two perfect scores on the eighth-grade reading test, and five on the 10th-grade reading portion for the test given in spring of 2006.
But hitting an ace on the reading test was no mean feat for Gogert; he is not a natural reader by any stretch and had to exert a lot of effort make headway in what is a difficult subject for him.
I was surprised I did so well, Gogert said. It was kind of hard because I dont like to read a lot. Its not my favorite thing to do. But it was kind of easy once I got interested in it and it wasnt boring.
He thought he might be hamstrung by a small vocabulary; the test has an area focusing on words and Gogert said that was the hardest part for him.
My vocabulary is small, he explained. I dont read a lot so I dont get used to a lot of new words.
He credited two teachers for whetting his appetite for reading; Gary Sanden is a retired fifth-grade teacher who enticed Gogert years ago with a series of books called the Seventh Tower. Fiction is more to his liking than biography or history and that series gave his eighth-grade teacher a foundation to build on last year. Nancy Torrance remembered her former charge at an instant, describing him as a kid who just gritted his teeth and got down to business.
I think about Mitch, it was all about the work ethic, Torrance recalled. Mitch was just one of those exceptional students who was low key in his attitude and who had a exceptional work ethic. He would just power through it. He was just one of those kids who just wanted to achieve something.
If a piece of writing needed two or three revisions Gogert wouldnt blink, he would just sit down with a new piece of foolscap and scribble away. According to Torrance subjects like reading and writing are like building blocks piled upon each other, and students must stretch their abilities to master one level, and then use that to progress to the next. She said Gogert was always stretching his abilities and would persevere despite not liking the subject he was studying.
He was just one of those students who worked hard and just never gave up, said Torrance, who has been teaching since 1972. She noted studies showing a correlation between high math scores and reading aptitude. When he told me he didnt like reading, I was astounded, and hes also an algebra student.
Gogert doesnt plan to ease off on his studies but admitted passing all three sections of the state-mandated test takes a weight off of his little shoulders.
It feels good because my mom doesnt get mad at me, he said while getting ready to prepare for cross-country practice. Its good to know that I can pass it as an eighth-grader, cause then I should be able to pass it as a sophomore.
His hobbies include riding his bike and snowmobiles, and he has been a harrier since seventh-grade when his older sister Corrine got him interested.
The team is really nice, its really close, its kind of like a second family, Gogert said. I like to run, hanging out with friends, thats my life.
He doesnt have any sure plans for college or a career, but might follow his father into the construction trade. He knows he has plenty of time make up his mind and isnt rushing things.
All my friends know what they want to do but I dont.
He encourages students to relax about the WASL and not make mountains out of molehills. Rather than look at the test as a huge, once in a lifetime event, make it an everyday experience.
And pay attention in class.