OBSERVER Photo by Damian Sebouhian Forestville Central High School student Caroline Kaicher has won a National Merit Scholarship, a prestigious award that only the top scorers in the PSAT/SAT around the country receive.

FORESTVILLE — Caroline Kaicher will be headed to college next semester with an extra $2,500 in her bank account thanks to a well-earned National Merit Scholarship awarded to her last month.

“We are very proud of Caroline’s accomplishment,” said Forestville Central School Superintendent Renee Garrett. “The National Merit Scholar is a very prestigious honor. We expect great things from Caroline!”

Kaicher became a semi-finalist for the award during her junior year when she scored a 1460 (out of 1520) on the PSAT. She is just one of 2,500 high school seniors in the country selected for the award, narrowed from a pool of approximately 1.6 million juniors who took the PSAT in 2016.

Due to Kaicher’s SAT scores from her senior year (1580 out of 1600) combined with her academic, athletic, and extracurricular accomplishments, Kaicher became a no-brainer for the scholarship.

The 2018 class president was also a member of the volleyball and softball teams, president of the National Honor Society and secretary for the Spanish Honor Society.

“I really like having goals and working toward something,” Kaicher told the OBSERVER. “It keeps me involved in my community and makes me care about everyone else around me. I really enjoy being involved in the school, so I’m going to miss it next year.”

Kaicher’s next goal: Studying neuroscience at a prestigious university.

“The brain is really interesting and I want to study it,” Kaicher said.

So far in her life, Kaicher has put her own brain to extremely productive use. Because of all the hard work she’s put in, she won’t be burdened with the kind of debt most college students face.

“I’m going to attend Colgate University in Hamilton, New York near Syracuse. I’m in their Alumni Scholars program and basically because I’m in that, none of my aid are loans; they’re just grants.”

Kaicher, who got the most out of her high school experience, has some advice for incoming freshman.

“I know it’s cliche, but it will go by really fast,” she said. “Just make sure you appreciate everything and just take every opportunity to be involved in your classes because soon you won’t be able to do that anymore.”

Kaicher credits her parents as her most significant inspiration for success.

“My mom was actually valedictorian when she went to high school and my dad passed away when I was 11, but he really played a big part in instilling the value of education.”