Cherokee County Students Earn Top Honors at 2026 Georgia Science & Engineering Fair

Four CCSD students from Sequoyah High, Cherokee High, and E.T. Booth Middle brought home awards ranging from Best in Category to specialty honors from the Navy and Georgia Aquarium

Four Cherokee County School District students brought home top awards from the 2026 Georgia Science and Engineering Fair at the University of Georgia, with projects tackling cancer drug resistance, wearable energy harvesting, and next-generation wind power — the kind of research that would turn heads at any university lab, let alone a high school science fair.

Sequoyah High School junior Natalie Pereira led the local contingent with the most prestigious honor of the group: the Best in Category Senior Division Grand Award in Biomedical and Health Sciences for her project, "Observing Drug Resistance in a Multiple Myeloma (t4:14) Cell Line." Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer that remains difficult to treat in part because cancer cells can develop resistance to therapies over time — the exact problem Pereira set out to investigate. She also received the Office of Naval Research Naval Science Award and was named to the Top 10% of all science projects in the statewide competition. Her teacher sponsor is Amberly Buchanan.

Two seventh-graders from E.T. Booth Middle School in Woodstock made their own mark in the Junior Division, both competing in the Energy: Sustainable Materials & Design category under teacher sponsor Adrianna Flieger. Hudson Gillentine earned First Honors for his project, "Watts in Your Walk: Using Nano-Enhanced Triboelectric Wearables" — an exploration of technology that generates electricity from everyday motion, such as walking. He also received the Georgia Aquarium Conservation Award and earned a Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge Nomination and Invitation, a national recognition that connects standout middle school scientists with opportunities well beyond the state level. Classmate Pranav Vasishta earned Second Honors for "Harnessing Multi-Directional Wind Energy Using the O-Wind Turbine," a project inspired by a turbine design capable of capturing wind from any direction — a significant advantage over traditional fixed-axis models.

Rounding out the local honorees, Cherokee High School junior Amanda Michno earned Fourth Honors in the Senior Division for her project, "Analysis of Nrf2 in Regulating Intestinal Homeostasis," in the Biomedical & Health Sciences category. Nrf2 is a protein that plays a key role in protecting cells from inflammation and oxidative stress — research with real implications for conditions ranging from Crohn's disease to colorectal cancer. Her teacher sponsor is Robin Barnhorn. Cherokee High, located on Rydal Road in Canton, draws students from across the northern stretches of the county.

Getting to Athens is no small feat. CCSD students must first compete at the regional level and finish among the top qualifiers before earning a spot at the statewide fair, which draws the best young scientists and engineers from across Georgia. For those who advance further, the Georgia fair has historically served as a pipeline to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair — the world's largest pre-college science competition — making every placement on the state stage a meaningful stepping stone.

The district recognized local sponsors Cobb EMC and Gas South for their support of the science fair program. Cobb EMC, the member-owned electric cooperative serving much of Cherokee County, and Gas South, an Atlanta-area natural gas provider, have both been consistent backers of STEM education initiatives across the region — a reminder that local investment in young people's curiosity has a way of paying off on the state stage.