These local students have recently distinguished themselves:

— Adam Starkman of Slingerlands, is studying aboard this summer as part of a Union College program. Starkman, a junior neuroscience major, is studying in the United States, Canada, England, and The Netherlands, studying each society’s health-care systems and the context of their historical development;

— Samuel Heller, a rising University of Vermont sophomore from Slingerlands, has been admitted to UVM’s Honors College. Heller, an English major, joins a group of 91 students who were granted admission to the college at the completion of their first year.

To be admitted to the Honors College as sophomores, students must have a grade-point average of at least 3.4., submit a letter of recommendation from a UVM faculty member, and complete an essay on why they want to be part of the college.

Established in 2004, the UVM Honors College is a community of more than 800 top-performing student scholars who benefit from the program’s rigorous, multidisciplinary academic challenge that complements and enriches the undergraduate experience;