Hendricks setting the bar high

New Prague senior Bryn Hendricks sits through a Spanish class at the High School. Hendricks has been named a National Merit Scholarship finalist.

"Why can't you be more like your sister?" A phrase, undoubtedly many, many students growing up have heard.
For the siblings of New Prague senior Bryn Hendricks, this axiom is nearly a mathematical impossibility.
For the home-schooled Hendricks, setting the bar high for her three younger brothers and sisters has reached a ridiculous level as she recently found out she is one of the nation-wide National Merit Scholarship finalists. She is one of roughly 15,000 finalists in the United States.
Before you roll your eyes at the number 15,000, take into account that there were 1.4 million applicants. Those numbers move Hendricks into the top one percent in the nation. A bar no brother and sister wants to have to equal.
"These are the kinds of kids we like coming to New Prague," said High School Principal Tom Doig.
The story of a high school senior reaching academic levels of this proportion always makes for a good story. What makes Hendricks' story more unique is the fact that she has been a home-schooled student her entire life.
"My mom handled most of the schooling for all of us," Bryn said. "In ninth grade I took some classes at the High School and I've got three classes here for the winter trimester."
Bryn is one of four Hendricks children of Jon and Mary Hendricks who is home schooled. Ben (16), Lauren (14) and Carson (13) are all home schooled.
"It's not a unique situation anymore to have students who are home schooled," Doig said, "but to have somebody like Bryn reach the levels she has is unique."
The process for Hendricks being named a finalist began 18 months ago when she took the PSAT test at the beginning of her junior year. The PSAT, a preliminary test to the SAT, is one of the measuring tools used to judge the applicants.
It was almost a year later, just prior to the start of her senior year, when she found out she was a semifinalist.
The big news came on February 10 of this year.
"I got a letter which said, basically, that I was one of the nation's finalists," Hendricks said. "I was really excited."
The finalists will find out during the months of March-May which scholarship they will receive and for what amount.
Hendricks has narrowed her choice of school down to Wheaton in Illinois, but has stated that Northwestern in St. Paul would be her second pick.
A handful of schools, including Central Florida and the University of Minnesota-Morris have already offered her scholarships that would have covered her financially. "It was hard to turn those schools down," she said," but Wheaton is where I really want to go."
Once she gets to college, Hendricks admits her slate is pretty clean. "I don't know yet what I want to do when I get there," she said, "although I know I don't want to teach. I just don't have the patience for it."