CMS’s Dennis Mejia Breaks National PACER Test

Central Middle School’s Dennis Mejia is receiving some national attention after shattering a school record on his way to making a national record in the PACER endurance test. Mejia finished all 247 levels, breaking the schools previous mark of 150.

Central Middle School has been administrating the PACER test for the past 8 years to gauge students cardiovascular health. Four years ago, Anthony Fisher would set the school record after finishing with 146. That mark would hold until this year when Christian Cortes would come in determined to set a new mark of 150. His record however, held for less than a week.

Mejia came to class on September 19th and would would set a mark that no one has ever come close to. Students began to slowly fall off, but Majia continued to run, eventually reaching 200. With his goal of 250 in sight, the machine suddenly shutoff at 247. Mejia became the first student in recorded history to finish the complete test.

But chasing records and dreams is nothing new to Dennis. He was born in Honduras to a poor family. His mother would leave for American when he was very young to pursue a better life, leaving her son to live with her parents. Every holiday she would send him money for ten years. Little did she know, Dennis was saving the money and eventually bought a bus ticket and come to Philadelphia. His mother, unaware of him coming to the states, received a call from immigration stating they had her child. She immediately went to pick him up and has been reunited with him ever since. Dennis is now chasing his own version of the American dream, and one day hopes to play professional soccer.

Dennis will have a chance of defending his national mark on Friday, October 21st when Central Middle School will host a state wide, open competition with 6 different divisions.