Eleven Cortez Middle School students have been nominated to attend the Junior National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C., this summer.

The sixth-graders were nominated by English language arts teacher Cody Childers.

“They were looking for students who show great attendance, academic work and also the behavioral side of things that showed they were a positive contributor to the classroom,” Childers said.

He said he nominated the students because they fit those qualifications.

In the acceptance letter, the Junior National Young Leaders Conference cites selection based upon “scholastic merit, maturity and strength of character to represent Cortez Middle School.”

The program costs anywhere from $1,695 to $2,295, depending on whether the student chooses to stay in program housing or be picked up and dropped off each day, according to the program website.

According to Childers, the 11 Cortez Middle School sixth-grade students who had received their letter from the program are, as of April 19:

Alicia Brito, Adrien Corlew, Tyler Jackson, Helen Jiang, Myles Larrick, Lily Sandner, Isabella Tewell, Haley Thompson, Waylon Thompson, Airoughn VanGrandt and David Vreeken.