Bright past leads the way to a brilliant present BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Staff Writer JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Samantha Miller, 17, was one of two New Jersey students and one of 63 United States students to achieve the highest possible composite score on the October 2007 ACT. MILLSTONE - Samantha Miller has flown under the radar throughout all of her years of schooling, even though she should have been a bright blip on the radar screen. The 17-year-old Allentown High School senior can't hide her academic talents any longer, because she is one of only two college bound students in New Jersey and one of 63 students in the United States to achieve a 36, the highest possible composite score, on theOctober 2007ACT.About 6,000 New Jersey students and 500,000 students worldwide took the test. The ACT consists of tests in English, mathematics, reading and science.Each test is scored on a scale of 1-36, and a student's composite score is the average of four test scores. For purposes of comparison, the average composite score for the national high school graduating class of 2007 was 21.2. In a letter recognizing Samantha's exceptional achievement, ACT Chief Executive Officer Richard L. Ferguson pointed out that she will have a choice of the widest possible range of future educational options. ACT scores, like SAT scores, are accepted by all major colleges and universities. Samantha said she was pretty relaxed when she took the ACT the second time, since she had earned a 32 when she took it the first time. "Iwas surprised," she said about finding out her score. "I thought this was an unworldly score and unachievable." Samantha said theACTtestwas a lot easier than the SAT, on which she earned 2,020 out of 2,400 possible points, Samantha said. "The ACT is a lot less tricky. It wasn't like they were trying to stump me." Samantha said her academic talents come naturally. "I do my homework and I don't study, only when I need to," she said. Other highlights of her K-12 schooling include starting to score at the college level in the third grade, and earning the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth's award for one of the highest SAT scores in the seventh grade. In eighth grade, she took two high school classes onlinewhile attending the Millstone Township Middle School. At the age of 11, she started taking college-level courses at Vassar College in the Summer Institute for theGifted. In the summer of 2007, she attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh,where she took biology and Calculus II. She has also been a member of Mensa International, which recognizes people with high IQs, since 2002. Currently a member of the Spanish and Englishhonor societies aswell as theNational Honor Society at Allentown High School, Samantha has taken Advanced Placement EnglishLanguage/Composition,CalculusAB, Macroeconomics, Chemistry and Physics at the school and was named Student of the MonthforApril 2007.She is a varsitymember of the school's cross country team and in her spare time helps tutor other students and helps the impoverished in countries such as Honduras and Peru while on humanitarian trips with her father, who is a dentist. An aspiring engineer, Samantha said her favorite subjects aremath and the sciences. Samantha has been accepted toGeorgia Institute of Technology inAtlanta, TheUniversity of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, theUniversity ofMaryland in College Park, Md., Kettering University in Flint, Mich., and Purdue University in Lafayette, Ind. She is still awaiting results from four other schools but is considering the University ofMichigan because that school offered her a $20,000 scholarship and has one of the best engineering departments in the nation. Samantha said she is excited to attend college. "Therewill be less limits towhat I can do and more encouragement," she said. "There will be so many clubs to get involved with, and Iwill find out somuch about everything - not only academically, but people, too." Samantha said she always remains focused on trying to know herself and trying to be considerate of others. "I help people whenever I can," she said. "If anyone needs help, I help. I try to be helpful." Samantha also said she loves puzzles and figuring out sudoku. She also said she enjoys her friends and video games, especially Dance Dance Revolution.