Henry Daily Herald

Dutchtown High School swept the Regional Science and Engineering Fair Awards with two of the three student finalists who will represent Henry County this year in international competition.

“This is the only school who had students selected to participate,” said Shaheen Begum, a biology teacher and science department chair at Dutchtown High. “The third student is a homeschool student. We are very proud of them.”

The youth — Tushar Mittal, Ham Buii, and Daniel Dorminey (home school) — leave for International Science and Engineering Fair on May 13. The three will be among 35 students from Georgia presenting their projects at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) on May 14-18, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

Begum said that Buii will also compete in the International Sustainable World Engineering, Energy and Environment Project (ISWEEEP) Olympiad this week, at the George R. Brown Convention Center of Houston in Texas.

Don Franklin praised the trio for their accomplishment. He is an adjunct physics professor at Mercer University and its Henry County Regional Academic Center, who has been to four previous ISEF events.

This will be Franklin’s second year as lead judge at the competition in physics and astronomy. He represents the American Association of Physics Teachers and The American Physical Society. He also works on other international programs for high school students.

“The main idea is to make the world smaller,” Franklin said. “When these young people spend time together, they identify other students as the face of a country, instead of a political leader. We publicize sports, but we don’t give academics the same respect.

“My teaching career started in 1965 and my college teaching in 1993,” he added. “[I] retired from full-time teaching in 2009, but enjoy the opportunity to teach a few classes and, of course, to spend time at the International Science and Engineering Fair is something I will look forward to for years to come.”