It was a normal Wednesday at Bradford Area High School for Clare Mulcahy when she rounded the corner in the hallway.

Then, it wasn’t.

The high school senior turned the corner to find her parents, school administrators, the school and city newspapers and a crew from WJET-TV news in Erie gathered to give her some surprise news: She was being offered a full four-year scholarship to St. Vincent College in Latrobe, complete with room and board.

As the winner of the St. Vincent College’s 38th annual Wimmer Scholarship Competition, she is being offered a package valued at more than $184,000.

Heather Kabala, St. Vincent dean of admissions, and Sharon Nincke, admission counselor, presented the oversize check, which listed the amount of the prize offering as “priceless.”

Clare Mulcahy is the daughter of Drs. Francis and Mary Mulcahy.

Jim Berger, associate director of marketing and communications for public relations, explained that some applicants to the school— those with at least a 3.5 grade point average and an 1080 SAT score — were invited to take a written exam to compete for the scholarship.

“This was no easy feat. This was quite an accomplishment,” said Kabala.

She explained that Mulcahy was competing against 220 students who took the exam, which takes about 3 ½ hours to complete, said Kabala.

“Clare’s was the highest score on the exam,” she said.

Mulcahy was the sole person to receive full tuition with room and board through the scholarship program. The four runners-up received full tuition only.

Mulcahy said the award was unexpected.

“It was probably the hardest test I’ve ever taken,” she said.

While the news took her by surprise and she has not yet made a final decision on a college, she said the offer from St. Vincent would be hard to beat.

Wherever Mulcahy finds herself this autumn, she plans to study either chemistry or biology.

At St. Vincent, she has been accepted into the Herbert W. Boyer School of Natural Sciences.

The study of the natural world runs in her family.

Her parents are both employed at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford: her mother as director and associate professor of the biology program, and her father as director and associate professor of the chemistry program.

“I definitely grew up around science. It’s definitely a marketable skill,” said Mulcahy, who explained either discipline can be applied in many places.

Francis Mulcahy is a graduate of St. Vincent.

While he agreed he was pleased his daughter is looking at the college, what is more important to him is that she’s furthering her education.

“It’s her life. She’s got to live it,” he said.

Mary Mulcahy was “amazed and grateful” of news of her daughter’s test scores and scholarship offering.

“What a wonderful gift,” she said.

They drove down in November to take the test, and Mary Mulcahy recalled not only that her daughter enjoyed meeting the other students, but also that she was up for the exam challenge. “She’s one of the rare kids who actually seemed to enjoy that test,” she said.

However, “She didn’t think she did so well on the test,” noted Francis Mulcahy, who added there were exam questions with information she didn’t learn in school until the week after the exam.

The administration at Bradford was also impressed with Mulcahy’s academic achievement.

“We just couldn’t be prouder of her and how hard she worked,” said Superintendent Katharine Pude, who, along with Principal David Ray, attended the award presentation.

While she’s taking her education at Bradford high seriously, academics is not Mulcahy’s only activity there.

She said band is probably her biggest activity. The senior plays French horn, and her musical participation includes marching band and Pennsylvania Music Educators Association festivals.

Another favorite activity is the Green Club, with activities including recycling and tending to the garden in the courtyard.

The Wimmer Scholarship Program “is designed to recognize high school students with outstanding academic abilities and to encourage them to pursue a quality undergraduate education at St. Vincent,” stated a press release from the college.

The scholarship program is named after Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, the founder of St. Vincent College. The first Benedictine college in the United States, St. Vincent is a four-year Catholic school sponsored by the Benedictine monks of St. Vincent Archabbey.