The Renton School District announced, on Thursday, that four Hazen High School students have been named National Merit Scholar finalists.

The students, Alexander Nurmi, Alisha Piazza, Emma Tuschhoff and Melissa Mayer, are now in the top 1 percent of the 1.5 million high school students who take the Preliminary SAT National Merit Qualifying Test each year.

Many factors were reviewed before the honor was bestowed on the students. The four students’ abilities, skills and accomplishments determined their status and they also met high academic standards. A variety of information was also evaluated including the finalist’s academic record, information about the school’s curricula and grading system, the finalist’s SAT scores and the high school’s official written recommendation.

Because they are finalists, the students are eligible to receive thousands of dollars in college scholarships from the National Merit Scholarship Corp., colleges and universities, and corporate sponsors.