When you take a look at Powell High School’s 2025 ACT scores, students’ Panther pride is evident — Powell’s students scored an average of 20.3, 1.2 points ahead of the state.

PHS also recorded an increase in its graduation rate. The ACT helps graduates move on to college and secure Hathaway scholarships.

“Last spring, our senior class did really well with the ACT,” Powell High School Principal Tim Wormald said during an Oct. 14 board meeting. “As you can see, our numbers increased across the board. Having an average composite score of 20.3 is really pretty impressive.”

Powell’s scores are based on last year’s junior class (the state also allows seniors to take the test.) Of the 1.4 million seniors across the nation who tested, the average score was 19.4, according to the ACT’s data.

Using common sports competitors and similar sized districts, Wormald offered  Cody (20.2), Douglas (18.7), Lander (19.9) and Worland (18.6) to the school board as comparison. Just across county lines, Lovell tied with Powell at 20.3.

Wyoming’s composite score was 19.1, among the top two states that test all students, a release from the Wyoming Department of Education said. Three students in the state earned a perfect 36.

The number of public school students in Wyoming who met their benchmark increased 2% in English language arts and 1% in reading. 

In addition to strong testing performance, more Powell High School students graduated last year at 90.1%, bucking a slight decline that began in 2019. Last year the average graduation rate in the state was 81.6%. Powell led the pack based on the given comparisons, while Cody’s graduation rate was 85.1%, Douglas was 83.5%, Lander was 88.8%, Lovell was 82.1% and Worland was 89.5%.

The increase equates to a couple students, Wormald said, “but obviously that’s one or two students one way or the other, and that makes a big difference for those students that we work hard every day to try to ensure that students are moving forward and [we] try to support them the best we can.”

Wormald said the school has worked over the last few years to encourage students to pursue graduation, acknowledging that for some students it can be a struggle.

“I think we’re seeing that pay off, our percentage of graduates is certainly higher than the state average, and so we’re proud of that. [It’s] still always an area of focus for us,” Wormald said. “We want to keep those students in school and moving toward graduation.”