Aaron is classified as legally blind. Spending less time filling in tiny circles on a piece of paper allowed him to evaluate problems with more ease—leading to a perfect score.
“I kind of knew it was going to happen,” Aaron said.
His perfect 2,024 soared above his Ferguson Elementary campus average of 1,588, the district average of 1,563 and the state average of 1,522.
At home, the incoming fifth-grader asks his parents, Tiffany and John Newcomb, for math challenges, such as, “Give me any two numbers that I can multiply in my head, and I’ll do it,” his parents said.
While Aaron used to look for every possible way to get out of doing schoolwork, he has overcome self-doubt and become more independent since the family moved to CCISD two years ago, Tiffany said.
“Everyone in that district has a lot of heart, and they’re all very caring,” she said. “They were looking out for him [this year], and I think that helped him perform better.”
When not solving math problems, Aaron is an avid golfer and also enjoys bowling, laser tag, video games and cooking. For now, Aaron is enjoying the thrill of elementary competition, such as the strategy- and time-based math challenges his class did at the end of the year.
“It kind of gave me a lot of pressure, but I kind of knew I was going to win,” Aaron said. “Of course, I won every single one of them.”
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