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Eleven New Rochelle High School students have been chosen to compete against counterparts around the world in the annual GENIUS Olympiad, a contest that promotes understanding of environmental issues.

The NRHS students, members of the Science Research Program, are Isabelle Balachandran, Jobin Binu Daniel, Jackie Ceja, Kieran Freed, Ella Harshman, Jack McCormick, Andy Nuñez, Andrew Schomber, Leyla Selman, Lily Spertus Newman and Julia Yang.

“The quality of the projects submitted has been increased significantly compared to previous years and we are very proud of all applicants for their work and effort,” the event’s organizers said on the GENIUS Olympiad website. The event is hosted by the University of Rochester; GENIUS stands for Global Environmental Issues and Us.

Projects are assessed by multiple reviewers and scored on a 5-point scale. Projects scored 3.1 and higher were selected as finalists.

The New Rochelle students’ projects are among 679 finalists chosen from 1,311 science submissions. While the science category is the largest, the awards are given out in several other categories: art, short film, business, music, robotics and creative writing. In all, 1,245 projects will be presented by 2,000 students. They come from 42 U.S. states and 84 other countries, including South Korea, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Jordan.

Participants will make their presentations on May 15. The awards will be announced on June 12.