Call him a geek, call him a nerd, 13-year-old Bowen Steffen is proud of it.
"Greek, brainiac, nerd are like, you're complimenting them," he said. "You're saying their smart. It's not an insult."
And this 7th grader has reason to be proud. He's already scored a perfect 36 on the science section of the ACT and 32 overall.
It was the second time the McMillan Middle School students took the test. Last year, he got a 23 and from then on he was on a mission.
The work, which included the 13-year-old going back through his test to study what went wrong, paid off.
"The things he's able to retain is amazing to me," McMillan Magnet facilitator Sarah Castanos said. "I wish I could have a little bit of that."
Bowen wants to be a theoretical physicist when he grows up and says he plans to take the ACT again in the next few years.
As for college?
"I'm in 7th grade," he said. "I have a few more years until I have to make that decision."
