R.J. Macay’s goal is pretty simple. Attaining that goal is anything but.
“I want to be the best,” said Macay, a junior at Fox. “No matter what it is, I want to finish on top.”
Don’t bet against him, suggests Fox baseball head coach Neil Richardson, who said Macay, the starting second baseman and No. 2 hitter for the Warriors, has the right mix of intelligence, maturity and desire to make that happen.
“I think the longer you’re a teacher and a coach, you run into people you kind of know just have it,” Richardson said. “Whatever ‘it’ is, R.J. has it, and he’s going to be somebody who’s going to do big things.”
Judging by his ACT score, Macay is already in rarified air. According to the ACT tutoring site PrepScholar.com, 0.136 percent of all test takers in 2017 scored a perfect score of 36, and earlier this year, Macay joined that exclusive club.
“That’s one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done,” Macay said.
It was the fifth time taking the test for Macay, whose previous high score was a 33. Macay said he had also taken several practice tests to ensure that he would end up with the best possible result. Because, of course, Macay wanted to finish on top.
“I’ve been working really hard to get that score,” he said. “The real hard work I put into it was this winter. With that 33 I got, it was a good score, but there were other kids that scored higher than me and I was kind of disappointed, so I was like, ‘I could get a real high score on this.’ I knew if I worked hard for it, I could get a 35, maybe a 36. So I pushed myself to be better, my parents gave me everything that I needed, and I got the 36.”
Macay attributed his drive and work ethic to the example set by his parents, Ramon and Len Macay.
“They’ve been pushing me since I was in elementary school to be the best at anything that I can do,” said Macay, whose twin sister A.J. is the class president. “On the baseball field, they push me to be the best I can be. In the classroom, they push me to be the best. I try to be the best brother, son, friend. Anything that I do, I want to be the best at it, so I push myself, but most of the credit I give to my parents.”
And it’s that determination combined with the brains that Richardson said put Macay ahead of the curve.
“The fact that he had a great ACT score just kind of shows what kind of intelligence he has, and he’s a great tester and that kind of thing,” Richardson said. “But I see him as a player, I see the toughness, I see the kid who’s out there battling all the time, and I think all of those elements kind of play into life, and if he ends up being a doctor or a lawyer or whatever, those are the kind of expectations I have for him. But he’s also a good human being and a good kid. I’m pretty proud of him.”
Macay said he found out about the perfect score while hanging out with some friends over spring break.
“That was a fun day,” he said.
After receiving a text message stating that the ACT results were in, Macay said he used his phone to look up his score.
“All of a sudden I see this 36, and I’m like, ‘Wait I minute,’” he said. “I didn’t know if it was a 36 for sure, but it looked pretty real, so I made sure I screen shot it, sent it to my parents right away. I called my mom, and she was like, ‘Are you serious? Are you serious?’ She was in disbelief. I started texting all my friends, and I was real excited. I was like, ‘Wow, I actually did it.’”
Toss in a PSAT score that has him currently ranked as a national merit semifinalist and Macay has taken a few big steps toward potentially attending Stanford University.
“Stanford’s been my dream college since I was in middle school,” he said. “And now that I got the 36, it’s a little more realistic, I guess.”
Although there are other California schools on Macay’s list, several that he plans on visiting over the next year or so.
“I’ve always dreamed of going there,” Macay said. “I’ve never been there, and just everything I’ve heard about it, it’s beautiful, a very diverse state, very young. It seems like a lot of fun, and some place that I would love to go to.”
While he still has plenty of time to choose a profession, Macay said he will likely pursue something in the medical field.
“I’d love to be a sports physician, like a team doctor with the Cardinals or something,” he said. “That would be a dream of mine. I mean, sports has been part of my life ever since I was little.”
According to Richardson, the sky’s the limit for Macay.
“I’m looking forward to seeing where he’s going to be in six or seven years,” Richardson said.
“To be quite honest, I think there are other levels, there are other places this kid can go, intelligence-wise and work ethic-wise in the classroom. I mean, I’m sure there are times when he’s gotten by with just being really, really intelligent, and I know he has really high hopes. We talked just the other day about where he wants to go, places like Stanford and things like that. Those are people that are on an absolute other level, and I think he’s a kid who has the potential to go there, but he’s going to have to continue to push himself. And there’s the potential to do that.”
The potential, and the willingness to make it happen.
“I’m definitely not going to just slack off,” Macay said. “I want to graduate at the top of my class, so I’m still going to push myself to be the best, and my parents definitely won’t let me slack off my senior year. I know that I’ve got to keep pushing myself to keep those good grades.”