LITTLE ROCK, Ark.- Learning a foreign language and mastering how to speak it became a high-scoring achievement for one Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School student named Jayden Bledsoe.

“I knew I was going to have trouble on the listening part, and I heard that they had different accents and stuff,” Bledsoe said. “I didn’t know that I was going to get a 100, though.”

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Bledsoe earned a perfect score on the national Spanish exam and is the only student in Arkansas to have done it. His teacher, Robin Kratzke, was also taken aback by how well he did.

“I truly never knew there could be a 100%,” Kratzke said. “When I took it, I didn’t score that.”

Bledsoe says it took many hours of studying with his teacher helping to lead the way.

“I would want to come to class, like I wouldn’t skip, it would be fun, the different projects and stuff we would have to actually speak,” Bledsoe said.

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He now wears the gold medal he earned with honor and has a full scholarship to Missouri University of Science and Technology, where he’ll be majoring in computer science.

“When you work hard, you can accomplish anything,” Bledsoe said.