Fayette students rack up wins at region science fair

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Fayette County’s middle and high schools again dominated the competition at the 2023 Griffin RESA Regional Science & Engineering Fair.

McIntosh High secured two of the region’s top three awards, automatically advancing them to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in May 2023. Out of tens of millions of students participating in science fairs around the globe, Roshan Kolachina and Aadi Vaidya will be among the roughly 1,800 to compete at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.

Students in both the Senior and Junior Divisions who placed 1st will represent the Griffin RESA area in the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair to be held in March and April of 2023. Among the 38 1st place winners in the senior division, 25 are from Fayette high schools. Of the 17 1st place winners in the junior division, 9 are from Fayette middle schools.

High school first place winners advancing to the state science and engineering fair are (McIntosh High) Arya Avva, Dhriti Gramani, Connor Johnson, Roshan Kolachina, Vedita Sawhney, Sage Shah, Arya Shojai, Shae Staples, Aadhav Sundar, Aadi Vaidya; (Sandy Creek High) Jack Jung, Siobhan Nelson; (Starr’s Mill High) Avni Aligeti, Ansiba Bakaly, Jonah Begley, Ella Griswold, Gabriel McBryde, Kimberly Palmer, Isabelle Stanek; (Whitewater High) Harrison Bonner, Andrew Graddy, Marley Hegtvedt, Olivia Ray, Jacob Sims, and Emily Wagner.

Middle school first place winners advancing to the state science and engineering fair are (Flat Rock Middle) Ian Blackshear, Ameen Dayisi, Jose Pena, John Wamsley; (JC Booth Middle) Finn Kellett, Oliver Rodela; (Whitewater Middle) Caleb Boursiquot, Jake Greenway, and Ludovic Lythgoe.

Fayette students also won 8 out of 14 special awards.

Aadi Vaidya of McIntosh High won the American Psychological Association Award.

Roshan Kolachina of McIntosh High won the National Geographic Society Cultivating Empathy for Earth Award.

Harrison Bonner of Whitewater High won the Ricoh Sustainable Development Award.

Ella Griswold of Starr’s Mill High won the United States Agency for International Development award.

Vedita Sawhney and Aadhav Sundar of McIntosh High, Ludovic Lythgoe of Whitewater Middle, and Timothy Harlow of JC Booth Middle swept the Office of Naval Research/United States Navy & Marine Corps award.

Vedita Sawhney and Aadhav Sundar of McIntosh High and Ludovic Lythgoe of Whitewater Middle were among the 4 winners of the United States Air Force award.

Roshan Kolachina of McIntosh High won the Yale Science and Engineering Association, Inc. Award.

John Wamsley of Flat Rock Middle and Ludovic Lythgoe of Whitewater Middle were among the 7 winners of the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge Award.

The Griffin RESA Regional Science & Engineering Fair is an affiliated fair of the Georgia Science & Engineering Fair (GSEF).

The Griffin RESA Regional Science and Engineering Fair is a competition for middle and high school students attending Butts, Fayette, Henry, Lamar, Newton, Pike, Spalding, and Upson county school systems.