Hanford High student surprised with $40,000 scholarship

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Quite a surprise Friday for students at Hanford High school, especially one very bright senior.

Emma van Fossen showed up to hear a guest speaker talk to a group of students at school. Emma had no idea she was the real the guest of honor or that the speaker was an official from Southern California Edison.

Emma even volunteered to be part of the presentation, not knowing she was about to get a huge reward for all of her hard work in the classroom.

"First, you look like you have a kind spirit about you and you seem really smart," Tammy Tumblint said before presenting Emma with the check. "I'm going to give you some money, we'll give you a big check. You are our 2016 Edison scholar."

Each year, the Edison Scholars Program awards $40,000 scholarships to 30 high school seniors who want to become engineers and plan to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering or math.

Emma was a finalist out of nearly 1,000 applicants. She plans to attend Fresno State in the fall.