AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS - Four years ago, math teacher Larry Strom told then-freshman Cristina White that she would ace the math portion of her SATs.
White never forgot her teacher's words and, sure enough, the Desert Vista High School senior recently nailed a perfect math score on the test.
"I wasn't surprised at all," White said of her flawless test score. "Strom told me I would get an 800 in math and he told my mom that, too."
White is one of 18 students at Desert Vista to recently score perfect 800s on the math portion of the SAT. Although the school has churned out math whiz kids in years past, never have so many aced the college entrance exams in one year, said Strom, chairman of the Desert Vista math department.
"We've always had a high number but never anything like this," he said. "It's grown exponentially."