Fayette middle and high school students tallied tons of wins at the 2025 Griffin RESA Regional Science & Engineering Fair.
Three local students will represent Griffin RESA at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair this May: Ludovic Lythgoe of Whitewater High and Lara Otico and Aadi Vaidya of McIntosh High.
Every year, tens of millions of students participate in science fairs around the globe but only about 1,800 earn the right to compete for nearly $5 million awards bestowed each May at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair.
Local students won a number of special awards.
Ludovic Lythgoe of Whitewater High won the American Psychological Award.
Raaga Sundar of McIntosh won the NASA Earth System Science Award.
McIntosh’s Yuyu Lin, Benjamin Lopez, and Zackary Niker won the Water Environment Federation/Stockholm Junior Water Prize.
Bennett’s Middle’s Amari Kemp and McIntosh’s Anika Thiyag won the Office of Naval Research Award.
McIntosh’s Lara Otico won the Regeneron Biomedical Science Award.
Bennett’s Middle’s Amari Kemp and McIntosh’s Lara Otico won the United States Air Force Award.
Whitewater High’s David Martin won the Yale Science & Engineering Association Award.
Bennett’s Middle’s Amari Kemp, Rising Starr’s William McCullough, and JC Booth Middle’s Amogh Ramesh, Luca Peronti, and Paul Vu won the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge Award.
Students in both the senior and junior divisions who placed 1st will represent Griffin RESA in the Georgia Science and Engineering Fair this April.
A total of 17 local students earned 1st place in the senior division: 10 from McIntosh High, 2 from Starr’s Mill, and 5 from Whitewater.
High school first place winners are (McIntosh High) Brennan Coiro, Colin Hacker, Asher Levine, Elliot Oh, Lara Otico, Corin Staples, Raaga Sundar, Oluwatimileyin Thomas, Aadi Vaidya, Gavin Weida; (Starr’s Mill High) Alexandra Bowe, Gabrielle Huggins; (Whitewater High) Aliyah Hayes. Ethan Hoellrich, Ludovic Lythgoe, David Martin, and Carpenter Ray.
A total of 9 students earned 1st place in the junior division: 1 from Bennett’s Mill Middle, 3 from JC Booth, and 5 from Rising Starr.
Middle school first place winners are (Bennett’s Mill Middle) Amari Kemp; (JC Booth Middle) Luca Peronti, Amogh Ramesh, Paul Vu (Rising Starr Middle) Woodson Bowe, Daniel Bruijn, William McCullough, Emma Paparo, and Andrew Sexton.
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.
Posted 2/12/2025
