PUTNAM --- March 10, at the 62nd annual State Science Fair Competition Finals, the Putnam Science Academy walked away with 10 trophies and 14 medals and a first place state crown.
Senior Mehmet Sencan was honored with a special plaque for his 4 consecutive years of attendance to the State Science Fair.  PSA won the Top 2 awards in the Physical Science Category, which is the main category in the State Science Fair. First went to Sencan and Abdurrahman Cam, and second place was awarded to Yusuf Yilmaz and Fadil Sencan from PSA.  As a winner, Sencan and Cam will also compete in International Sustainable World Energy, Engineering, and Environment Project Olympiad held this week in Houston.
Besides that, PSA students won first place in Environmental Science, third in Applied Technology and another third award in Future Sustainability Categories. In addition to those Trophies and Medals, students also won hundreds of dollars of cash awards from big sponsor companies like Barnes Aerospace, Dominion’s Millstone Power Station and Audubon Connecticut & Arch Chemicals.
So far, the best record for PSA in the State Science Fair Finals had been the year 2008 when PSA won three 2nd Place awards (5 Trophies total). Before that, PSA had one 2nd Place award from the year 2006 (3 Trophies). PSA also attended ISWEEEP International Project Olympiad in 2008 and had won a bronze medal.
 This year, as a result of the first day preliminary elimination stage, 5 out of 7 projects from our school advanced to Finals (10 students). With this result, PSA was the 2nd high school with the most number of projects in the Finals in the State of Connecticut.
In the Finals, our students won 10 Trophies and 14 Finalist medals from various categories. As a result, PSA was the high school that won the most number of Trophies in the State of Connecticut. This was the best record so far in the school’s history.
The List of Student who advanced to Finals, their grade levels, Names of the Projects and the list of Awards:
1. Mehmet Sencan (12th grade) and Abdurrahman Cam (11th grade): “Environment friendly photodegradation of toxic phenol in water by using Chlorophyll” Advanced to Finals in 4 different categories at once (also will go to ISWEEEP International Project Olympiad, April 14-19, Houston, TX)
* Physical Sciences Category (Main Category): 1st Place – Trophy and $500 cash
* Sustainable World Category : 3rd Place – Trophy and $300 cash
* Environmental Science Category: Finalist Medal (means in top 10)
* Engineering Category: Finalist Medal (means top 10)
* Also, won invitation to present their project in Connecticut Science Center in Hartford which is the largest science exhibit in Connecticut.
2. Yusuf Yilmaz (11) and Fadil Sencan (11): “Efficient and practical approach to removing toxic phenol from industrial waste water with the aid of used tea”
 Advanced to Finals in 3 different categories at once:
* Physical Sciences Category (Main Category): 2nd Place – Trophy and $300 cash
* Environmental Science Category: 1st Place – Trophy and $500 cash
* Sustainable World Category: Finalist Medal
* Also, won invitation to present their project in Connecticut Science Center in Hartford which is the largest science exhibit in Connecticut.
3. Zekeriya Abacioglu (10) and Nahit Akarsu (10): “Removing petroleum spills from seawater by using magnetite mineral”
Advanced to Finals in 2 different categories at once:
* Applied Technology Category: 3rd Place – Trophy and $200 cash
* Physical Sciences (Main Category): 4th Place – Finalist medal
4. Ibrahim Buyukcelebi (10) and Alperen Tuzuner (10): “Producing biodegradable plastics from starch”
* Applied Technology Category: Finalist medal (top 10)
* Special Award from US Army ($50)
5. Selman Akarsu (10) and Bahadir Ozgenturk (10): “Producing electricity from food waste”
* Energy & Transportation Category: Finalist medal (top 10)
Serdar Haytiyev, chemistry teacher and project supervisor, said "I believe that it is very essential for students who aspire to be future scientists to attend these scientific competitions. However, students need to realize that these competitions require a deep sense of dedication and effort. Our students were quite aware of this and they worked day and night on their projects to find solutions for the problems our world is facing today. They did inquiry based high level research that will help them throughout their future academic lives. As a result, they were awarded with Trophies and Medals for their hard work which surely made our school staff feel very proud."
Principal Tufan Aydin said, "Our students achieved outstanding success with their hard work and raised the bar for upcoming years. In PSA we follow science and math oriented academically rigorous curriculum, which I see as one of the main factors for our students to be successful in these competitions. Besides preparing them for college, the environment here helps students begin a career planning starting from as early as their freshmen year."