Senior Hanna Torline found out that she was named a National Merit Scholarship finalist on Thursday, Feb. 7.

There were 16,000 semifinalists and Torline was one of 15,000 finalists. She was very relieved but not very surprised when she found out.

“I walked into my independent study class and Mrs. Habiger said that the counseling office needed to see me,” Torline said. “She walked with me [to the counseling office] because she said she needed to do something. We walked past Mr. Burwell’s office and into the back conference room where everybody was waiting with signs and bubbles and they were taking pictures. I was surprised that everybody was there, but I was mostly relieved I had been named a finalist. When you find out that you’re a semifinalist, there is a very good chance that you will become a finalist which is why I wasn’t very surprised.”

A lot of work was put into Torline’s application and according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, finalists are selected on a basis of skills, accomplishment, potential for success and rigorous college studies.

“I was really glad when I found out that I had been selected because I knew that if I wasn’t named a finalist, it would be my fault because my application was sent in a day past the due date,” Torline said.

Counselor Randy Burwell is very proud of Torline and her success.

“I was very hopeful that things would go well and I’m really pleased,” Burwell said. “For her to reach that level of academic excellence as a junior last October [when she took the test] is marvelous. She’s one of the best and brightest.”