ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The National Merit Scholar program is very prestigious and recently, one of Liberal High School’s own was recognized by the program.
LHS senior Katrin Flores was recently honored as a Commended Scholar in the National Merit Scholarship Corporation Program. Of the approximately 1.3 million program entrants, Flores was one of 3,400 students to receive the recognition.
“We are very excited Katrin Flores was named a Commended Scholar through the National Merit Scholarship Program,” LHS Principal Ashley Kappelmann said in a separate release. “She has made her school and her community very proud.”
As Flores tells it, she has been busy throughout her LHS career.
“During my time at LHS, I'm currently the editor of the Angry Red Newspaper, and I've been involved with the newspaper for my entire high school career,” Flores said. “I've also been involved in Scholar's Bowl all four years, the Debate Team, speech/drama, and Key Club, among others. Outside of school, I like to help out around the community at the Pancake Day breakfast and at the Community Health Fair.”
Flores said her journey toward her recent recognition actually began a couple years ago.
“The National Merit Scholarship is something the school administers, and I believe my first time taking the PSAT was in my sophomore year, but sophomores are eligible for the scholarship, obviously,” Flores said. “Then in junior year, we had the option to do the PSAT again, and the scores get submitted to college boards, and depending on what your score is, you can get placed in the competition, and then there's a lot of other criteria they consider. After I took my test and got my score last year, I think it was about a month later when we got all of that stuff, and I knew I'd done well, but I wasn't really sure if it would make it all the way in the program, because there's A LOT of competition. But earlier this year, Mrs. Kappelmann gave me a letter from the program letting me know what had happened, and she was also really proud, and it was actually only a couple weeks ago when I was officially notified I was a Commended Scholar.”
Flores added she felt a mix of emotions upon receiving the official word about her honor.
“I was really excited, I was glad I'd been able to do so. Getting this kind of honor is a really big deal for schools, and I'm glad I was able to bring it to LHS,” Flores said. “It's also great to have this honor be a culmination of all the work I've done throughout high school, and my parents were also really, really proud when I told them. It's also something I'll definitely be putting on college applications. I was actually only honored as a Commended Scholar, so I won't be making it to the final big competition, but I'm still really proud of myself for what I was able to accomplish. I'm really honored to be able to bring this to LHS, I believe the last time there was an LHS candidate for National Merit was in 2018 with Nikki Gill being a semi-finalist, and my older brother was also a Commended Scholar that year, which I find really amusing. My brother and the rest of my family have always been really supportive of me, and I look up to them, so I'm glad I can make them proud.”
As for what the future holds, Flores said there are still some decisions to be made.
“I want to continue doing the best I can, and I also want to find a balance between my school and work and personal life. I want to keep doing well in my classes and I'll just keep studying and keeping myself on track,” Flores said. “I know I want to do something maybe in the medical field and pursue medicine, but I know how hard it is and how tricky it can be to get through the curriculum and everything else. That's definitely one option I'm thinking of. For my undergraduate, I'll focus on biology and maybe some computer science stuff as a backup. But for right now, there's still a few things I'm trying to finalize. My overall dream, however, is to open my own clinic in the community and give back – there aren't really very many of those options in this area, so I want to do something like that and help the community. My family has dealt with various conditions and illnesses throughout my life – my dad has neuropathy and diabetes, and my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and currently in remission from that. My older brother also graduated as a pharmacist. I want to have the knowledge to be able to help people with whatever ailment they happen to be dealing with.”
Overall, Flores said, she is very happy to have been recognized.
“I want to thank everyone who's supported me throughout my time in high school, and I'm just so grateful and honored to be recognized in this way, I just can't believe it,” Flores said.
