A teen from Plainfield was accepted to MIT, a school that only accepts 4% of those who apply.

Carlos Mendez is a 17-year-old senior at College Achieve Central in Plainfield.

It doesn’t hurt that he scored a 1500 on his last SAT, but he also believes his interest in art, study abroad in Japan and straight A’s in advanced placement classes got him into MIT.

Mendez says he hopes to study environmental engineering at the school in the fall.

“I probably want to be working with water systems or helping fight climate change," he says. “There’s so many things I could do so many options. It’s probably the best problem I’ve ever had.”

At College Achieve, success is celebrated - and there are now banners of Carlos inside and out.

The staff is also happy to boast.

“He’s never gotten a B in the seven years I’ve been his principal, not one time," said Head of Schools Natica Brown.

MIT has plenty of famous alumni, including astronaut Buzz Aldrin, physicist Richard Feynman and Dolph Lundgren. Carlos says his favorite is Sal Kahn, the man who invented Kahn Academy.

“Every student knows what Kahn Academy is - it’s so useful. And it’s helped me so much with studying and getting my SAT score up," he says.

Carlos is also the pride of his mother and father, as he’ll be the first in his family to go to college.

“I just want to grow with people who I know want to do great things like I do," he says.