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KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- A Kirksville High School senior is ecstatic, after learning she's a National Merit Scholarship Winner.

Emily Pollard is the only senior in the Heartland to win the scholarship, worth $2,500.  The Advanced Placement student and Kirksville Class of 2012 Valedictorian said she scored a whopping 2320 out of 2400 on the SAT.

Pollard said she has worked to win this award since her sophomore year in High School.

"I took a lot of practice SAT tests before I took the SAT and I practiced for the Preliminary SAT as well because I really wanted to be a National Merit Scholar," said Pollard.

Kirksville High School Principal Randy Mikel said Pollard's success just confirms that Kirksville's academic program produces kids that can compete academically on a national level.

"I think it confirms a lot of things," said Randy Mikel.  "One: we have some very self-motivated, intelligent kids that come here. But, it also confirms that we have a very competent staff and a very rigorous curriculum so our kids are able to compete on a national level and this just confirms that."

Mikel said there were three semifinalists for the award out of 180 students in the senior class. Mikel said Kirksville's Class of 2013 has five semifinalists for the National Merit Scholarship, which is the most he's seen in his 17 years working at Kirksville High School.  

National Merit Scholarships are based on the student's academic record, Preliminary SAT score, leadership in school and community activities, an essay and a recommendation letter. The scholarship involves several tiers. First, the students with the highest scores in each state are named semifinalists. Then students advance to the finalist level. The winners of the scholarship were selected from the finalists pool. There are 48 National Merit Scholarship Winners in the State of Missouri.

Since Pollard obviously excels at taking the SAT, we asked her what's the key to getting such a high score.

"The easiest way to improve your score is to study for the writing section because if you start doing multiple writing section tests, you'll realize they're really only about five types of questions," said Emily Pollard. 

"All they do is they change the noun, and they change the verb, but once you get the pattern, you might not really understand language that well but if you can pick up on the pattern, you'll know what they are looking for."

Pollard will attend Carleton College, a private liberal arts college in Minnesota. She will study math or biology, and wants to become a research scientist.