“He is a gifted math student… [but is] diligent and spends the necessary time to thoroughly understand the concepts. He is the kind of student that we need more of,” AP Calculus teacher Charles Collingwood, remarks about Dylan Holly.

Senior Dylan Holly is an exceptional student who scored 800, a perfect score, on the math portion of the SAT (a standardized test usually used for college admissions). Upon receiving his results, he was really psyched.  “I didn’t really study much for it,” he admits. “But I am [naturally] good in math.” His current and favorite teacher, Mr. Collingwood, believes that it was not by chance that Holly aced it.
“I was really impressed, but not surprised,” Mr. Collingwood says about the hard working senior. “Very few students get a perfect score on the mathematics section of the SAT… It takes more work, effort, and dedication than most students are willing to put in.”

Holly, though talented, may also have Mr. Collingwood’s help to thank for the perfect score. “The way he teaches, is how I understand math,” Holly says. And that is saying something, since Calculus is the most difficult mathematics class in high school and AP is at a college level.

Besides excelling in math, Holly is quite a bass player. He plays the bass in Mr. Marrs’ Orchestra and Jazz band class in the morning. He is also a member of the Tucson Jazz Institute. Last year, he went to All-State Jazz completion in New York and got an award for second place. “We were one point ahead, but a judge put us a point behind since we already won two years in a row.”

After graduation, Dylan Holly plans to go to NYU (New York University) and study for a music degree. He wants to be a music teacher for college students. “It is the only way I can be a musician and have a job [at the same time].”