Forsyth County Students Earn Top Honors at Georgia State Science Fair

Kathryn Tree, a student at New Hope Elementary, claimed the competition's top prize at the 9th Annual Georgia College State K–5 Science and Engineering Fair on March 12 at Georgia College in Milledgeville, leading a Forsyth County sweep that touched four local schools and nearly every grade level from kindergarten through fifth grade.

Tree's project, "O2 to be or O Not 2 to be: How Temperature Changes Dissolved Oxygen," earned her Best of Show and a spot in the Grand Top 10% Category Awards, the highest individual distinction in a field of 344 registered projects from 452 students representing 101 Georgia schools, a record turnout in the fair's nine-year history.

Whitlow Elementary contributed one of the most complete performances of any school in the competition. Aarya Dogra Sudan took the Best of Category Award in Physics and Engineering for the Elementary Division, while Pranavi M won Best of Kindergarten, Satya S earned Best of 1st Grade, and Natraj Pillai secured Best of 2nd Grade. All four also received Grand Top 10% recognition, giving Whitlow a sweep of every Primary Division grade-level award alongside a top category honor.

Mashburn Elementary added three more Grand Top 10% honorees. Shanaya Baheti and Gauravi Sangeetha Thilak both earned Best of Class for 4th Grade, and Andrew Koepp won Best of Health Sciences in the Elementary Division.

Shiloh Point Elementary closed out the county's showing with Aarav Rajagopol winning Best of Physical Sciences in the Primary Division and Lakshmi Saisha Samineni and Arihan Katkuri sharing the Grand Prize for Best of Elementary Division, all three earning Grand Top 10% recognition.

Awards spanned six scientific disciplines: Physical Sciences and Engineering, Chemical Sciences, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Medical and Health Sciences, and Mathematics and Computing Sciences. The Georgia College fair, which has grown steadily since launching in 2018, is one of the only state-level competitions to include primary grades (K–2) alongside elementary (3–5), giving students as young as kindergarteners a formal venue for original scientific inquiry.

Competing against students from Fulton, Bibb, Cherokee, Chatham, and more than a dozen other counties, Forsyth County's honorees across four campuses reflect both the depth of preparation students are receiving in district classrooms and the breadth of scientific curiosity those classrooms are producing.