COVINGTON, Ga. - Newton County School System students brought home several awards from the recent, 2019 Georgia Science and Engineering Fair. Winners at the state science fair must have earned first place awards at both the Newton County School System Science Fair and the Griffin RESA Regional Science Fair in order to receive invitations to compete at the State Fair.

Newton County Theme School seventh-grader, Megan Ellington earned fourth place honors in the Biomedical and Health Sciences category with her project, “Battle of Degreasers.” Her project won the Broadcom Masters Award at the Regional Competition, which earned Ellington the opportunity to compete at the Broadcom Masters Competition in Washington, DC this summer.

In the senior division, four juniors won awards for their science projects. Sydney Meeler, a junior at Eastside High School, took third place honors in the Microbiology category with her project, “Ineffective Biological Pathways in DNA.” Newton College & Career Academy juniors, Zachary Moore and Jared Seals won third place in the Engineering Mechanics Division with their project, "The Next Gen."  Not to be outdone, Eastside junior, Sarah Schlueter won second place in the Biomedical and Health Sciences category with her project, “The Effects of Cell-Cell Crosstalk on Glucose Stimulated Insulin Secretion.” Schlueter’s project also won the Society for InVitro Biology Award and the Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Biotechnology Award. Schlueter previously won the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair award at the Griffin RESA Regional Science Fair and will compete in the International Fair in Phoenix, Arizona May 12-17.

“I am extremely proud of these super scientists,” Samantha Fuhrey, NCSS superintendent, said. “They have represented their schools and our school system extremely well. I have no doubt we’ll see their names on the winners lists again next year. Until then, I wish both Megan and Sarah well in their upcoming competitions.”