Area Students Earn Top Scores on National Exam

Two students in Poudre School District’s Liberty Common High School, Julianna Woldseth and Gabriel McDanald, are among the top 50 students in the nation (top 1%) taking the 2025 Classic Learning Test.  The pair took the CLT10 exam during their sophomore year.

Along with the honor, Woldseth and McDanald each receive a $2,500 scholarship.  Their achievement highlights not only their personal dedication and academic excellence but the students’ commitment to the challenges of their school’s rigorous, knowledge-based, classical curriculum.

Dr. Robert Robinson, Principal of LCHS, praised their accomplishment saying, “The CLT10 national award is a significant honor.  Julianna Woldseth and Gabriel McDanald earned scores in the top 50 out of thousands of students taking the exam across the country.  It is a testament to the hard work and talent of these excellent students and to the success of a knowledge-based, classically-oriented curriculum.”

In addition to the two national award winners, other LCHS students also excelled broadly on the CLT10.   Fellow students Zaylah Farrell, Rowan Flaitz, Gilbert Ley, Annemarie Nazeck, and Juliette Tourney earned the distinction of “Regional Scholar.”  Woldseth was further recognized as a “Distinguished Scholar.” 

Each year, CLT recognizes exceptional achievement across three levels:  “Distinguished Scholars” (top scorer at each participating school), “Regional Scholars” (top 5% of their region, and “National Award Recipients” (top 50 sophomores nationwide).

“Over the past decade, the CLT has become perhaps the country’s most reliable college-readiness assessment used by the nation’s most demanding universities and colleges,” said Liberty Common School Headmaster Bob Schaffer.  “For Julianna and Gabriel to register among the highest of upper-echelon test takers is a stunning achievement suggesting their secondary education is preparing them extraordinarily well for success in college and in life.”  

A complete list of this year’s CLT10 National and Regional Scholars is available at CLT’s website: https://www.cltexam.com/student-awards/.