Latest southern Colorado news, weather and sports from FOX21 News

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Getting a good score on the SATs is hard enough, but a perfect one?

That's even harder. However, one local student did just that.

"I opened the letter from the SAT place, and I jumped up and down and I screamed 'Woooo I got a good score, I got a good score,'" Allyson Callahan, senior at the Vanguard School, said.

More like a perfect score.

Callahan scored an 800 on the writing portion of the SAT. The SAT college admissions test includes critical reading, math and writing. Each subject is measured on a scale of 200-800, with 800 considered a perfect score.

"I've always wanted to be a writer, so getting that good of a score was definitely encouraging," Callahan said.

Callahan said she has always enjoyed writing and credits her teachers with pushing her to improve, like Mrs. Tripoli.

"She noticed that I had the talent, and so she would tell me what I could do better, and then throughout the years Miss Middleton and Mr. Good also helped me and pushed me even further, which is what helped me get my perfect score," Callahan said.

Callahan isn't the only one doing well at the Vanguard School.

The school ranks number one in the entire state in CSAP scores, and has for the past four years.

"Sometimes we have been criticized for being merely a direct instruction where its rote memorization or we get the top students. Nothing could be farther from the truth," Carole Tripoli, Assistant Principal, English teacher, teacher coach and head of the English department said. "Twenty five percent of our students are on free and reduced lunch,"

The public charter school follows a classical curriculum which involves studying Aristotle, Plato and Latin.

"Our school is rigorous, but with thought and we relate what happened then in Roman times to what's happening today," Tripoli said.

Despite a heavy work load, Callahan still manages to be involved in other activities like sports and art, and she was just elected class president.

"The thing that is remarkable for this school because we are academically rigorous is that Ally can be involved in so many things and still keep her grades up and still keep a positive outlook on life. That's not so easy," Tripoli said.

Callahan has been accepted to the Asbury University in Kentucky and plans to study creative writing and art.