During high school, Katherine Crawford Spencer had a hard time fitting in and started getting into trouble.

After being expelled in the eighth grade for riding her horse on school grounds, she was expelled for the following year from the alternative academy. Finally, before entering 11th grade, she and her family decided that she would get her GED. But she put it off more than once.

The State Board of Education recently recognized the 21- year- old Irmo resident for a remarkable feat. Spencer scored 3,880 points out of a possible 4,000 points, making her South Carolina's high scorer on the General Educational Development (GED) tests for 2007.

Spencer scored a perfect score of 800 in three of the five GED subject areas - science, social studies, and language arts. She also scored in the 99th national percentile on all five subject areas.

Motivated by the upcoming birth of her daughter, Spencer took the GED test a week before her due date. The GED administrators were very kind, she said, but one lady suggested that she wait until after the baby was born to take the exam.

The lady asked, "What if you go into labor?" Spencer replied, "Then I hope you know how to deliver a baby because I am not leaving until I finish this test."

Spencer received her GED results in the hospital after her daughter, Libby, was born.

Today, Spencer has conquered anorexia, a condition she struggled with throughout her teenage years, and she often talks to young girls who are dealing with weight issues and eating disorders.

Spencer is enrolled in a pre- nursing course at Midlands Technical College and plans to earn a Spanish certificate and an associate's degree in nursing.

For more information about the state's GED program, contact Dr. David Stout at 803-734-8347.