SAN DIEGO - A local high school student received high praise for a rare accomplishment -- getting a perfect score on her Advanced Placement Spanish Literature exam.
Grecia Perez was a junior at Southwest High School when she aced the test last year.
"That just doesn't happen," said Southwest High Principal Lee Romero.
"She has ruined it for everybody," said Perez's AP Spanish teacher Diana Sevilla, who joked about expecting perfection from all of her students now.
The College Board administered 4.5 million Advanced Placement exams in 2015. Only 322 students across the country received a perfect score out of those 4.5 million tests that ranged from AP Spanish to AP Macroeconomics and AP Calculus.
Perez is a native Spanish speaker, but that shouldn't discount the accomplishment. No students in the United States got a perfect score on the AP English exam in 2015.
"[In] 29 years in education, I've never received a letter like that," Romero said when she was notified about Perez's score in a letter from the College Board.
"I knew a five was possible, but a perfect score I never heard of," said Sevilla.
"I'm proud of how far I've come," the 17-year-old Perez told 10News while sitting in a video production class.
She is tackling four more Advanced Placement classes her senior year -- Environmental Science, AP Government, AP Spanish Literature, and AP English Literature.
Taking AP English Literature is truly amazing, considering Perez didn't speak English when she arrived at Southwest High School three years ago as a freshman.
"This also validates all the hard work we do at this school," said Romero.
"I'm really proud that I accomplished that in a short amount of time," Perez said.
Perez said she wants to major in film at San Francisco State University and eventually be a community leader.
"I want to be part of some social change," she said.
