Newtown High School students who earned recognition as semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s scholarship program were honored at the school on September 14 and September 18.

This year, NHS students Colden Bobowick, Sophia Child, Julia Dolan, Collin Hoffman, Zachary Majeski, Lauren Nalajala, and Joseph Tartaglia were surprised with the news that they had been named as semifinalists.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance. It was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program, according to the corporation. High school students are entered into the program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

For the National Merit Scholarship program, 16,000 semifinalists were named, and each of the chosen semifinalists can continue in the competition. To continue in the competition, semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the finalist level, according to the corporation.

Due to Newtown’s current hybrid model for attending school, some of the students were honored on September 14 while in school and some were honored on September 18. NHS Principal Kimberly Longobucco announced the news on both days before the students gathered outside, separated six feet apart, for a photo.