Carnegie Elementary student Cara Price's advanced intellect has earned her recognition among her peers internationally.

Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY) has honored Cara for her accomplishment on the School and College Ability Test (SCAT).

The SCAT measures specific abilities in the verbal and quantitative areas, and results give families a better idea of a child's academic talents -- particularly in comparison to their peers in the academic talent search.

The soon-to-be fifth grader earned the honor for being among Pennsylvania's highest-scoring students on the SCAT test for the 2008 academic year.

Her scaled scores translate as a 466 verbal and a 479 on the math portion of the test.

Cara's scores, calculated after she took the SCAT at a Pittsburgh-area testing center, were well above the required 440 verbal and 450 quantitative scores necessary to enroll in CTY's distance learning programs.

Earlier this year, she participated in an online "Young Readers Series: On Our Own" for two months. The class concluded on March 10.

After reading the assigned material, Cara interacted virtually with her classmates.

"I did distance learning with kids from across America. We had to read books and do forms about them and wrote blog assignments," Cara says.

"Every week they had an assignment. They would get pretty in-depth for fourth graders," says her mom, Mindy.

Carlynton School District students who participate in CTY's program are funded through Carlynton's GATE program (for gifted students).

Cara attributes the development of a strong relationship with Johns Hopkins to GATE teacher Jennifer Tylka's guidance, and she credits fourth grade teacher Marisa Greco with providing challenging individualized work in the classroom setting.

"Johns Hopkins has a nationwide talent search. They have testing centers and students receive recommendations from their teachers to join this program," Mindy says.

"We were very proud of her. We've always known that she's bright -- straight A's. This blew us away that she did so well with all of the other gifted students testing as well; (for this test) she's in the top 94 percentile, at or above the top 94 percent based on the gifted kids that took it."

Cara says she normally scores well on tests.

"I took the IQ test in first grade and my mom said 'you did good on it,'" she says.

"In third grade last year, I scored high on math and reading tests. I got 'advanced' which is the highest."

"I like going to GATE (Carlynton's gifted program). My favorite subjects are Math and reading. I like learning. I like to read Harry Potter books. I like fiction."

Cara is no stranger to academic recognition.

For the 2007-08 school year, her list of accomplishments included a triple crown win at the Invention Convention, a first place individual win at the third- and fourth-grade CalcuSolve competition, the title of first-place spelling bee winner, and a high honor roll ranking for both semesters.

A member of Carnegie Girl Scout Troop No. 1163 since first grade, Cara balances academics with her interest in scouting.

"I want to be a teacher and an author when I grow up," Cara says.

"I just enjoy writing. I'll just have to see what happens."