FOREST CITY, N.C. — A student in western North Carolina overcame some personal challenges to become this week's Spectrum News High School Scholar.

What You Need To Know

  • North Carolina Rep. Paul Scott traveled to Forest City to present the Spectrum News 1 High School Scholar award to senior Savannah Finucan

  • Finucan says her mom, who is a teacher at Chase, always influenced her love of learning, and when she learned her mom would be out of school to get a kidney transplant, it was a challenging time

  • Finucan says the money will go toward tuition at Gardner Webb University, where she plans to study mental health

Chase High senior Savannah Finucan was presented the award by state Rep. Paul Scott.

She said she plans to use her scholarship to study mental health at Gardner Webb University.

During her high school career, she completed more than 200 community hours and also won awards for speech, debate and drama.

Finucan says acting in plays in high school helped her through a pretty challenging time in her life.

“I was getting cast right as my mom was getting ready for a kidney transplant," Finucan said. “So it felt parallel to each other because she was dealing with the surgery and going towards that, and I really like the role of Captain Hathaway because I felt like it aligned with what was going on in my life at the time."

The senior also earned the Paul Silver Enrichment Award at her school. 

North Carolina Rep. Paul Scott visited Forest City to present the Spectrum News 1 High School Scholar award to Finucan.

Scott commended her on her accomplishments. 

"Spectrum News has chosen indeed an outstanding student to receive this coveted award of scholar of the week. And I say that not just because of your accomplishments that I've read so much about, but also your resiliency in the face of many obstacles,” Scott said. 

Finucan’s teachers describe her as kind and a remarkable young woman, and they look forward to seeing what she achieves next.