Daksh Patel didn’t even check his ACT score right away. He was in the car when his friends texted him that results had dropped. It was one of those ordinary moments that tilts the course of a life.

“When I saw the 36,” he says, “yeah, I was definitely surprised.”

He’s a junior at Macomb High School, not a senior, which makes the perfect score even more striking. But talk to Daksh for more than two minutes, and it becomes clear: the number isn’t the most interesting thing about him.

For starters, he didn’t bury himself in test prep or tutoring. “Honestly, I didn’t study much at all,” he admits. “Mostly, I was helping my friends study. I think teaching them helped me more than anything.”

That spirit—quietly generous, grounded, and curious—threads through everything Daksh does. He’s a longtime member of the Scholastic Bowl team, where he’s competed at the state level and twice qualified for the Small School National Championship. He’s on the math team, involved in AP-level coursework, and part of the Rotary Interact Club, which recently organized a literacy outreach at MacArthur Elementary.

And when nationals and prom fell on the same day this year?

“I chose prom,” he says. “It felt like the right time to experience that part of high school.”

That’s a telling detail. Daksh is deliberate, but not robotic. He understands achievement, but not at the cost of living fully. He’s still deciding what college might come next—once thinking about state schools, now considering leveraging his score for access to more selective options, especially those with strong financial aid programs.

And he’s aware of what a place like Macomb has meant to him.

“I’ve been here basically my whole life,” he says. “I was born out of town, but moved here when I was about one. It’s kind of a funny place. 

I describe it like a geode—it might not look like much from the outside, but once you really get to know it, there’s so much light and life inside.”

That metaphor captures the essence of both Daksh and his community: unassuming on the surface, and quietly radiant beneath it.

Macomb’s unique makeup—part rural, part college town—has offered him opportunities to grow both academically and personally. His schedule is packed this year with AP Calculus, AP Chemistry, and AP Language. He’s eyeing Calc II next year through Western Illinois University, earning dual credit in the process. But it’s not just the coursework that’s shaped him.

“Ms. Selders, my English teacher, has had a big impact on me,” he says. “She’s taught me to be more thoughtful in how I express myself—in how I think about what I say and what I put into the world.”

Like so many students from families who came to this country in search of opportunity, Daksh feels the weight and the gratitude of that journey. His mother immigrated in the late 1990s, his father in the mid-2000s. They came from western India and built a life in Macomb through hard work and perseverance.

“They gave me a stable life,” Daksh says. “They made it possible for me to focus on school, to travel, to try things. I’m really thankful for that.”

He hopes to pay it forward. His goal is to become a physician—maybe in dermatology or family medicine. He’s not sure yet. “I’ll probably still be in med school ten years from now,” he says with a smile.

He doesn’t need to have it all figured out. What he has already found is rare: the balance between drive and humility, intellect and empathy, ambition and gratitude. That’s not something you learn from a prep course. That’s something you grow into—supported by teachers who see you, peers who walk alongside you, and a community that quietly says, go ahead—we believe in you.

Before our call ends, Daksh adds one more thought:

“I really want to thank my friends. Taking on a big load, it helps to have people around you. People who support you and remind you to enjoy things outside of school too.”

In a town that shines from the inside out, Daksh Patel is proof of just how bright that light can be.