Senior Shruti Aggarwal earned the title of a Coca Cola scholar and a $20,000 scholarship in February.

She is one of 150 students nationally who have been selected by the Coca Cola Scholars Foundation to receive substantial academic funding for their efforts as exceptional people.

Aggarwal displays an impressive record, from being a research intern at a UCLA laboratory to leading the Oak Park Robotics team.

“I’m so amazed at Shruti’s myriad of talents. She is not only brilliant, she is highly creative and has extraordinary intellectual curiosity,” said Kathy Schultheis, one of Aggarwal’s past English teachers.

Aggarwal started the process back in October. After an initial application she was asked to also submit official transcripts, essays and recommendations.

She was just another one of the more than 100,000 applicants hoping to be set apart from the rest.

“Honestly, when I first applied, I was thinking that there was simply no chance,” Aggarwal said. “But, hey, I guess it was worth all the time!”

Since the first request sent out, the non-profit slowly narrowed down the competition, going through a series of stages to yield semi-finalists and regional finalists before eventually naming the national finalists.

Aggarwal pursues interests in science, technology, engineering and math. She plans to major in Materials Science Engineering, a discipline that deals with the discovery and design of new materials.

“I believe that human advance[ment] and endeavor is currently limited by the types of available materials,” Aggarwal said.

Aggarwal uses her spare time to read, write and play volleyball for the school.

She has been accepted into UC Berkeley, Urbana Champaign and USC, among others.

“The scholarship will certainly help the decision-making process when it comes to choosing between a private school or a UC,” Aggarwal’s mother said.

Aggarwal will be traveling to Atlanta, Georgia to meet her fellow scholars in April. There, she will complete another interview with the foundation in an effort to win an additional prize.

“I definitely cannot stop smiling.” Aggarwal said.