17-Year-Old Black

Nationwide — Sahli Negassi, a 17-year-old African American student from West Orange, New Jersey, has earned a perfect 1600 on the SAT. This rare achievement places him among less than 1% of test-takers nationwide.

Born in Manhattan, New York, and raised in West Orange, Sahli’s academic journey started at Mount Pleasant and St. Cloud elementary schools. He never attended preschool but credits his older siblings’ textbooks for building his early knowledge.Seeing his perfect score was a surreal moment for him. “I walked out of [my] first period [class] and immediately called my mom,” he told WOBOE. “I showed it to a classmate, but then I got nervous and joked that it was Photoshopped. Even now, it still doesn’t feel real. But more than anything, I was relieved — I had finally proven to myself that it was possible.”