Hailee Mabbutt thought there is no way "a girl from a small town in Idaho is going to get this thing."

It didn't stop the Kootenai High School senior from taking her counselor's advice, and applying for a Horatio Alger National Scholarship.

"I was so surprised to be selected," Mabbutt said. "When I found out, I was in tears. I couldn't believe it."

Mabbutt is one of 104 students nationwide to be selected this year to receive a $20,000 scholarship from the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. The nonprofit educational organization, through its members, offers one of the largest, privately funded, needs-based scholarship programs in the United States.

Mabbutt's application was selected from roughly 50,000 received by the association this year.

In April, she traveled to Washington, D.C. to attend an awards ceremony with the rest of this year's scholarship recipients. All expenses were paid by the Horatio Alger Association.

"It was really life-changing," Mabbutt said. "Each day just kept getting better and better and better."

The scholars attended college preparation workshops, attended lectures, visited the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Department of State and Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall.

The young scholars were also recognized at an awards dinner for new members being formally inducted into the Horatio Alger Association. The group claims members who, like the characters in 19th-century American author Horatio Alger's novels, overcame adversity to achieve great success through hard work, determination and with integrity. Members are committed to contributing to scholarships that help young people like Mabbutt - students who display a can-do attitude, perseverance and honesty - achieve the American Dream.

Mabbutt was particularly impressed by one new member: finance mogul Glenn Stearns, chairman and owner of Stearns Corporation.

Stearns' story about how he rose from humble beginnings to achieve success touched her, she said.

"I had lunch with Mr. and Mrs. Hagadone," Mabbutt said. "That was one of the best parts of the trip, because they're from our area, and they're just down to earth people, and they care."

Duane Hagadone was inducted into the association in 2004.

She met astronaut Buzz Aldrin, "Star Wars" producer George Lucas, and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, a new member this year.

"He ran into me," Mabbutt said, laughing. "He was my first crush."

Mabbutt said she was more inspired than starstruck by the encounters.

"It really clicked in down there that if you do work hard and you do want to succeed in something, you actually can," Mabbutt said. "You can do anything you want to if you stay motivated and stay on the right track."

Mabbutt is fifth in her class at Kootenai High School in Harrison, and maintains a 3.5 grade-point average. She's active in 4-H, and lettered in basketball all four years of high school.

This is the second consecutive year that the Coeur d'Alene area has produced a Horatio Alger Scholarship winner, which Duane Hagadone called "unique."

Board members don't participate in selecting scholars, Hagadone said. A professional staff at the Horatio Alger Association makes the selection based on aptitude, need and other criteria, but not where the applicants are from.

"I'm proud of everything she's accomplished to be one of so few chosen as a Horatio Alger scholar, but I'm also extremely proud that she's a Horatio Alger scholar from Coeur d'Alene," Hagadone said.

Lola Hagadone has been mentoring the 2010 scholar, Lake City High School graduate Alycia Barrowcliff, and will do the same for Mabbutt.

Scholarship recipients are selected because they have faced adversity in their young lives, and countered it with strength of character. The association considers national scholarship winners like Mabbutt to be "among the best and most determined youth in America."

Horatio Alger has the highest graduation rate of any national scholarship program in the U.S.

Mabbutt plans to use her scholarship money to study graphic design or earn a degree in counseling.

"I'm honored that I got to do this, and that I'm being given this opportunity," Mabbutt said.