{"id":192718,"date":"2025-05-11T21:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T02:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=192718"},"modified":"2025-05-12T22:15:49","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T03:15:49","slug":"elling-to-attend-harvard-u-hatcher-off-to-west-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/05\/11\/elling-to-attend-harvard-u-hatcher-off-to-west-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Elling to Harvard, Hatcher to West Point"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an exciting time of year for high school seniors and their families as they prepare for graduation and post-graduation, including college, the workforce, the military etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pair of seniors at Lincolnview High School will head out of state to attend two institutions held in high esteem \u2013 Harvard University and the United States Military Academy West Point. It\u2019s a remarkable achievement, given the Lincolnview\u2019s small size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evan Elling \u2013 Harvard University<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wait to hear something felt like it took forever, but it was the response Evan Elling had dreamed of hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elling, the son of Joe and Stacy Elling, was very interested in attending Harvard and Ohio State, and had considered applying to M.I.T. as well. He applied to Harvard in late October of last year, then didn\u2019t hear anything until mid-December.<\/p>\n\n\n

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After graduating from Lincolnview High School, Evan Elling will head to Harvard University, while Lindsey Hatcher will attend the United States Miliary Academy West Point. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cI was sitting all alone in my house because my parents were watching my sister at a sporting event,\u201d he explained. \u201cI had just turned on the TV to watch a movie and was eating mac-and-cheese and all the sudden I got an email and all it said was \u2018Your admission decision has been updated,\u2019 and that scared me because it didn\u2019t say accepted or anything, it just said updated. I ran to my room, grabbed my computer and opened it (the email), and it said \u2018Congratulations, you\u2019ve been accepted\u2019 and it was very cool because it had confetti on the website when you opened it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elling said he and his family toured the campus in September of last year \u2013 a 14-hour drive to Cambridge, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of their buildings have this nice old brick look \u2013 it\u2019s got this old feel and it\u2019s comforting in a way,\u201d Elling said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He plans to study mechanical engineering and would eventually like to move on to law school for a law degree. In addition, he\u2019d like to join the school\u2019s Mock Trial Club, along with Harvard\u2019s marching band and wind ensemble. Elling plays the baritone saxaphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no secret that Harvard is extremely selective of the students it admists each year. In fact, approximately 1,900 students from the U.S. and abroad are admitted each year, which equals an acceptance rate of just three percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was my dream school as a kid \u2013 Harvard Law School, to be a lawyer, so it\u2019s like fullfilling a dream,\u201d Elling said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

According to Lincolnview Jr. High\/High School Principal Brad Mendenhall, Elling is believed to be the first student from Lincolnview to gain admission to Harvard University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lindsey Hatcher \u2013 United States Military Academy at West Point<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting into an Ivy League school is no easy task and neither is getting into a military academy. Only 1,200-1,300 students are admitted to the United States Military Academy at West Point each academic year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lindsey Hatcher, the daughter of John Hatcher and Heather Torlina, received a nomination to West Point from U.S. Congressman Bob Latta, but didn\u2019t hear anything about it until just last week. Hatcher, a member of the Lincolnview track and field team, was running a warm-up lap when she learned the good news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom very early on I\u2019ve wanted to do something with my life that would help people \u2013 I wanted to do something that meant a lot to the world and that attracted me to military service,\u201d Hatcher stated. \u201cI care very much about my academics so I wanted to go somewhere where I would get a great learning experience but also a great experience improving myself in other areas and that drew me to West Point. It drew me to all of the service academies, West Point in particular because of some of the programs they offer that I\u2019m really interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey offer a war studies major and I\u2019m interested in doing that and then using that to go into military intelligence,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hatcher noted she\u2019s visited West Point and described it as absolutely gorgeous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s right in the Hudson River Valley with mountains and it\u2019s beautiful,\u201d she said. \u201cI was able to follow a cadet around, go to class with her and have that experience. I really liked talking to all the other cadets \u2013 with a service academy like West Point, it\u2019s all great kids, they\u2019re funny, they\u2019re intelligent, they have good character and it\u2019s really nice. What made my visit so special was seeing the people there were like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hatcher will leave for West Point at the end of June to begin basic cadet training and she said she\u2019s looking forward to the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just going to be an academic challenge but a physical challenge, a mental challenge,\u201d she stated. \u201cIt\u2019s really going to change my life and change me as a person and I\u2019m really excited to get out there and start doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before taking the next step, Elling and Hatcher will receive their diplomas during Lincolnview\u2019s graduation ceremony, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. this Sunday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor It\u2019s an exciting time of year for high school seniors and their families as they prepare for graduation and post-graduation, including college, the workforce, the military etc. A pair of seniors at Lincolnview High School will head out of state to attend two institutions held in high esteem \u2013 Harvard University and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 03:18:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192718"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192784,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192718\/revisions\/192784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}