A Long Island sophomore just did what no student had done in 25 years — ace Anthony Simonelli's Chemistry Regents challenge — and collected a hand-delivered $100 bill for his trouble, proving that real standards and real incentives still produce real results.
Jojo Yawson, a student at Baldwin High School who receives learning accommodations for testing, scored a perfect 100 on what is widely considered the hardest Regents-level exam in New York State. His teacher had offered the same deal for a quarter century: score a 100, get $100 delivered to your front door. Nobody claimed it — until now.
"Of course, it's about the money," Yawson told the Long Island Herald. "Getting a perfect score — if they gave me $100 for getting a 50, I would have got a 50. It's about the money." That's not cynicism; that's honesty. A clear reward for a clear standard. The Founders would have understood the principle instantly.
Yawson's mother, Ama Karikari, noted her son's achievement should inspire families of students with learning accommodations. "Having a learning difference can mean learning with excellence," she told the outlet. Yawson also aced the Biology Regents his freshman year. Accommodations leveled the playing field; they didn't lower the bar.
That distinction matters because New York's Board of Regents is doing exactly the opposite — lowering the bar for everyone. The state is phasing out Regents diploma requirements entirely by 2028, redesigning exams to fit new P-12 Science Learning Standards, and searching for "alternative graduation requirements." Simonelli told CBS New York it may be the last time any student of his gets a shot at a 100 on the Chemistry Regents as currently written.
Former Gov. George Pataki didn't mince words. "Getting rid of the Regents is incredibly stupid," he told the New York Post. "It seems like the Education Department's main function right now is to disguise the fact that too many New York S[tudents are failing]." The Post's text cuts off there, but the implication is clear: the institutional response to failure isn't to fix the education — it's to eliminate the measurement.
Simonelli's 25-year challenge is the antithesis of that approach. Set a hard standard. Attach a real consequence. Let students rise to it. Yawson, who went home after the test believing he'd failed, is proof the model works. "You just have to get all the questions right," he said. "Like, it's not impossible."
The open question is whether any New York student will get the chance to prove that again — or whether the state will simply declare victory by abolishing the test.
