Three pg 1 5-12-11
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caption, page 7:
Winners
Three students from the Putnam Science Academy won gold medals at the ISWEEEP International Olympiad. Left to right: Yusuf Yilmaz (senior), Fadil Sencan (senior), Abdurrahman Cam (senior). Courtesy photo.
3 take 1st in
international
science fair
PUTNAM — Last week three students from Putnam Science Academy made history by taking gold medal at the 2011 International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering and Environment) Project Olympiad (ISWEEEP) held in Houston.
Abdurrahman Cam, Yusuf Yilmaz and Fadil Sencan, won Gold Medals and $1,000 cash award in Environment Category which was the most competitive category in the Olympiad. This was the first time PSA students won Gold Medal in an International Olympiad in the school’s history. PSA students won a bronze medal in the 2008 competition and a silver in 2010.
Before going to ISWEEEP this year, the same project had won first place in 2011 Connecticut Science Fair in Physical Science Category.
This year, a total of 2222 projects registered to compete at 2011-ISWEEEP and only 440 projects out of 2222 projects were selected as Finalists and invited to Houston.
Only the top 10 percent are awarded Gold Medals and named as winners.
The academy’s Abdurrahman Cam, Yusuf Yilmaz and Fadil Sencan won for their environmental science project, “Using Citrus Fruit Peels to Remove Toxic Phenol from Industrial Wastewater.”
Senior Abdurrahman Cam said, “This was my second time participating ISWEEEP. I attended last year and had won a Silver medal and had earned an important experience for this year. However, I saw that the competition was even tougher this year. In spite of this, we could win a Gold Medal and took our success one step further and this makes me very happy and proud. We were expecting to win a Medal in this competition, especially after we won first place in the State of Connecticut, but winning a Gold Medal was truly amazing and outstanding for us.”
Senior Yusuf Yilmaz said, “I was ecstatic and honored to win a Gold Medal in my first International experience by overtaking so many opponents in the most competitive category of ISWEEEP, Environment Category. It was hard and very challenging. We worked on our project for more than four months with three hours a day on average. “
Fadil Sencan, a senior, said, “It was an amazing experience for me to attend and win a Gold Medal in an International Level Competition. It was my first time and I am proud not only for my school, but also for my State and for the USA. Bringing home Gold Medal was not easy though. Our project was a team project and teamwork requires some extra skills. Sometimes, we had to do day-long research in the college laboratory and sometimes we had to give up from our after-school sports activities. All in all, we knew that every success required some sacrifices and we sacrificed from our time but the payback was great. Our project was about saving the environment from the toxic organic pollutants like phenol by using something very cheap and abundant: citrus fruit peels.”
Serdar Haytiyev, project supervisor and chemistry teacher said, “It was truly amazing and historic for our school. As we worked together on their projects, I was very much impressed with their curiosity in science, especially environmental science and their dedication for their work.”
Principal Tufan Aydin said the win was a great honor for the students and the Putnam community.