Newtown High School senior Carter Goodrich was selected as a finalist to compete for the $14,000 Barton L. Weller scholarship, named in honor of the late Barton L. Weller, founder of Vitramon Incorporated in Monroe.

Established in 1977, the scholarship’s purpose is to encourage academic excellence in a substantial independent research or study project. The scholarship is open to full-time senior-year students at Joel Barlow, Masuk, Newtown, Shelton, and Trumbull high schools.

Entrants were required to submit proposals for projects in any field in which they have an interest. A total of ten proposals were received. Five finalists were selected on the basis of originality, format of the proposal, project potential, and care with which the proposal and its planned implementation has been thought through. On November 8, each finalist received $200 to help defray expenses during the five-month project period.

Prior to an Awards Dinner on April 23 at Fairfield University, the scholarship recipient will be announced. At the dinner, the $14,000 scholarship will be presented to the student whose project is judged to be the best. This scholarship is paid directly to a college or university for deposit into the student’s account. The scholarship will be awarded without regard to the student’s existing financial status.

Carter’s project is titled, “All for One — An Original Screenplay.” The objective of his project is “to write an original screenplay that will utilize multiple elements of the storytelling craft to produce an entertaining and fulfilling story that will hold its relevance across all audiences with contemporary, personal, and universal themes, such as the struggle of balancing multiple lives, decadence, naivety, youth, friendship, trust, betrayal, revenge, hate, resilience, and love.”

The other four finalists competing for the scholarship are: Sarah Gloria of Shelton High School with a project called “Enhancing Latent Prints Visualized through Iodine Fuming with Magnetic Powders;” Manan Manchanda of Trumbull High School with a project called “Brainmatics: A Mobile Application for Math Students;” Annika Morgan of Joel Barlow High School with a project called “The Effect of Deuterium Oxide (D2O) on the Viability of Coliphage Bacteriophages under Low Temperatures as a Model for Stability in Live Attenuated Viral Vaccines;” and Kaitlyn Siedman of Joel Barlow High School with a project called “Unified Drama Program."