It takes a lot of courage for a student to take on 13 Advanced Placement courses during their high school career. And it takes a lot of hard work to earn high enough marks in those courses to graduate in the top 1 percent of the senior class.

Now consider how difficult it would be for a student to accomplish that feat while battling a debilitating, chronic gastrointestinal (GI) illness in which the body’s immune system attacks healthy cells in the GI tract, requiring serious medications, countless surgeries and lengthy hospital stays.

Meet Kathleen (“Kate”) Bohlmann, a remarkable 19-year-old who graduated this past spring at the top of her class at Kennesaw Mountain High School.

“I have had Crohn’s disease for nearly ten years now, and at times it has caused me to be severely ill. However, I have never and will never allow it to stop me from doing the things that are important to me,” said Bohlmann.

Beyond her impressive academic achievements, Bohlmann has committed her time and energy to a number of clubs and organizations, including the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), the Spanish National Honor Society, Beta Club and the Kennesaw Youth Council. Bohlmann served as treasurer and later vice chair on the Youth Council, an eight-member team of high school students selected by school representatives and City staff to provide the Mayor, City Council and City staff with a teen perspective on local issues. In addition, for the Youth Council, Bohlmann helped design a mentoring program for middle school students in need. Though the program never left the ground due to difficulty organizing it within the schools, Bohlmann played a key role in its planning and development.

She also was selected by her teachers to attend the prestigious Georgia Governor’s Honors Program, a six-week summer educational program for advanced high school students. For the duration of the program, Bohlmann lived on campus at Valdosta State University. While there, she majored in Spanish and for four hours a day, every day, she was required to speak, read and be spoken to only in Spanish. As a result, Bohlmann is now fluent in Spanish and even traveled to Spain in 2007 with her aunt. These experiences fueled her passion for studying cultures and foreign languages. Next, she plans to tackle Chinese at Georgia Tech in the fall.

As a result of her ability to overcome challenges, numerous academic achievements and future promise, biopharmaceutical company UCB has awarded Bohlmann with a $10,000 scholarship as part of its Crohn’s Scholarship Program: Reaching Beyond Boundaries. Bohlmann is using the scholarship to help fund her tuition at Georgia Tech, a college she chose because of its strong programs in the academic areas that interest her: computer science, mathematics, science and foreign languages. She’s thinking about a career in cryptography, because it combines all of those interests into one. “I’m really looking forward to all the possibilities of college,” she says. “I’m looking forward to how much I can learn and all of the opportunities this will afford me.”