NEWBURYPORT — Newburyport High School senior Thayer Adsit won second place in the Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge over the weekend.
"Thayer's project was on the hydrogen engine," Superintendent Kevin Lyons announced at Monday night's School Committee meeting. "I had the pleasure of judging his project at the Newburyport High School science fair, and it was very good."
Adsit's "The Hydrogen Engine" competed in the engineering category of the science fair, which brought more than 350 students from different schools together to celebrate science and innovation while competing for more than $425,000 in cash and prizes.
Freshman Matt Orlando also represented the city in the fair with his project titled "Braces." Orlando's project won second place overall in the NHS fair.
"Thayer has really advanced his project from last year and is an up-and-coming, very bright student. It is amazing what he has done," said Ken Cole, chairman of the Science Department.
The two competed first against hundreds of students from different schools across northeastern Massachusetts in a regional fair in Somerville in March for the chance to go on to the state fair last weekend.
Only 40 students were chosen from the regional competition to go on.
Though the NHS science fair had 12 winning projects, Orlando and Adsit were chosen based on their desire to compete in the regional fair.
"There is just a wealth of opportunity at the science fair," Dr. Ralph Orlando said after attending with his son Matthew. "There were many schools throughout the region, and it is an opportunity to take a look at what's available for scholarship money and contests."
