Brittney Colbath is the first Copperas Cove High School senior to be named a Presidential Scholar, and she's headed to Washington D.C. later this week to be honored.
"It means a lot to me. I think it's been very, very humbling," Colbath said.
Colbath is one of 161 students across the nation to be named a 2017 Presidential Scholar.
"I'm going to be really thrust into this community of scholars and meeting with some very high up people that have been inspiring me for a really long time," Colbath added.
Along with her personal honors, Colbath was granted the opportunity to recognize one of her teachers, and she chose Mrs. Charlotte Heinze, her DECA teacher, as her most influential instructor.
"Through it all, she's really just been there to enforce my core values and to make sure that I was growing as a person throughout high school and getting me out of my comfort zone," Colbath said.
"Any teacher would be proud, I mean, honored and proud to have an individual leave your program with a successful student like that," Charlotte Heinze said.
Mrs. Heinze was the first person Colbath told when she found out she had been selected as a Presidential Scholar.
"I knew she was capable of it. So when she came and told me she was selected, I was like, 'wow...you know like, that is awesome,'" Heinze added.
The Presidential Scholar program extended back in 2015 to include students like Brittney Colbath who excel in career and technical education fields.
Colbath is set to go to the University of Texas this fall on a full scholarship. She said she hopes to one day become a corporate lawyer.
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