BRUNSWICK — Bowdoin College held its annual Sarah and James Bowdoin Day ceremony on Oct. 22 to honor those undergraduates who distinguish themselves by excellence in scholarship.

Those students who are designated Sarah and James Bowdoin Scholars are in the top 20 percent of each class for the previous academic year.

The following local students were named Sarah and James Bowdoin Scholars:

Megan Samson, class of 2013, of Lisbon Falls.

Anna Chase, class of 2013, of Dixfield.

The designation honors James Bowdoin III and his wife, Sarah. Bowdoin was the earliest patron of the college and was instrumental in its founding in 1794. Sarah Bowdoin also gave many gifts to the college, including most of the Bowdoin family portraits in the collection of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art.