(Courtesy photo) Diya Mahaveer, right, a senior at Nashua High School South, and Molly DellaValla, a junior from Jackson who is home-educated, are the two New Hampshire students selected this year to attend the National Youth Science Camp in West Virginia.

CONCORD — At least 95 young folks from New Hampshire have been selected to attend the National Youth Science Camp in West Virginia since the camp’s inception in 1963, according to the state Department of Education.

This year, Nashua High School South student Diya Mahaveer, and Molly DellaValla, a resident of Jackson who is home-schooled, became the most recent delegates selected to attend the camp.

On Wednesday, the DOE issued an apology for sending out a press release in March that incorrectly stated that Mahaveer and DellaValla are the first students from New Hampshire to be selected for the camp.

DOE officials “would like to apologize for an error in a press release issued March 31 … it turns out that there are a number of New Hampshire recognized delegates to the National Youth Science Camp, and that New Hampshire has a proud and longstanding history of delegates who have been selected for the camp in West Virginia dating back to 1963,” the DOE stated.

“Sadly, this unfortunate miscommunication was a disservice to the former delegates … (the DOE) would like to take this opportunity to commend each of them on their past achievements,” the department added.

Students selected as delegates to the National Youth Science Camp “represent the highest levels of academic achievement in science and mathematics,” according to its description. “The residential science education program honors and challenges high school science students to explore new areas in the biological and physical science, art and music.”

–DEAN SHALHOUP