Some 64 projects had been registered for the SC Sand Hills Region IV Science and Engineering Fair, held March 13. (PDB2B photo by Greer Fujiwara)
The SC Sand Hills Region IV Science and Engineering Fair is affiliated with the International Science and Engineering Fair, which is owned by Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Society for Science.
Seventh grader Lea Winslow from Mt. Gilead Academy took best in fair in the junior division for her project God Spoke, and It Was So: The Effects of Words on Pansies. Winslow received the Governor School’s GoSciTech Award, a scholarship to attend one week of GSSM’s 2026 GoSciTech summer camp.
Snikitha Garapati’s project Generation and Expansion of MART-1 Antigen-specific T Cells for Immunological Assays was best in fair in the senior division. Garapati is a 12th grader at the Governor’s School. Garapati will move on to the national event to represent Sand Hills Region IV at the 2026 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair held in May in Phoenix.
Willena Bradley and Sa’Nai Shannon, both 10th graders at Lee Central High School, received the Coker University Scientific Achievement Award, a $1,000 scholarship to attend the Hartsville university.
About 100 middle- and high school students representing schools from Darlington, Florence, Horry, Lee and Marlboro counties had entered 64 projects for the fair, according to Josh Witten, the Governor School’s director of research and inquiry and organizer of the event.
Projects had been divided between a junior division, comprising students grades 5-8, and a senior division, including grades 9-12.
The best-in-category winners from the junior division were:
Lea Winslow in behavioral and social sciences
Devyn Patchett, a sixth grader from Williams Middle School, in biochemistry
Jerome Durant, a sixth grader from Lee Central Middle School, biological sciences
Emma Crayton, a seventh grader from Williams Middle School, chemistry
Natalie Nelson, Tucker Holland and Arianna Zacharopoulos; all fifth graders from Holy Trinity Catholic School; earth and environmental sciences
Ashish Vashisht, an eighth grader from Williams Middle School; engineering, computer science and material science
Sebastian Briggs and Isaac Laing, both eighth graders from Palmetto Academy of Learning and Success, physics and astronomy
The best-in-category projects in the senior division were:
Vishwanth Bolisetty, 12th grade, SC Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics, engineering and mathematics
Snikitha Garapati, Governor’s School, natural sciences
Winners of special awards included:
Asha Kaikini, SC Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics, received the Citadel Securities Innovation Prize
Ansh Dwivedi, Governor’s School, received the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Award
Snikitha Garapati received the Regeneron Biomedical Science Award
Ansh Dwivedi received the Ricoh Sustainable Development Award
Shermerce Charles and Rhayne Wilson, Lee Central High School, received the Society for In Vitro Biology Award
Sinatra Rembert, Sa’Nai Shannon and JaSiyah Williams; Lee Central High School; received the Stockholm Junior Water Prize Regional Water Prize Award
Haashini Baskaran, Vishwanth Bolisetty and Lily Cho; Governor’s School; received the US Air Force Research Laboratory Award
Willena Bradley, Lee Central High School, received the US Metric Association Science Fair Award
Julianne Rogers, Lee Central High School, received the Yale Science and Engineering Association Award
Governor’s School faculty did not judge the senior division because of potential conflicts of interest, Witten said in an interview. He added that the division was mostly judged by representatives from the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Coker University and Clemson University.