Seven Oxford High students will advance to the state science and engineering fair on April 1 after taking home the top awards at the Region VII Science and Engineering Fair hosted by the University of Mississippi.

Oxford students Mennah Ibrahim, Zeyad Ibrahim, Keerthin Karthikeyan, Rishi Nautiyal, William Berry, Faith Ann Douglas and Alex Ritchie all brought home awards at the Region VII fair on March 23.

Region VII covers Benton, Calhoun, Coahoma, DeSoto, Grenada, Lafayette, Marshall, Panola, Quitman, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tunica and Yalobusha counties.

Mennah Ibrahim, Zeyad Ibrahim, Nautiyal, Berry and Karthikeyan each finished in first place in their respective categories, while Ritchie and Douglas finished second.

Several students also won special awards for their performance in certain categories. Berry won the “National Geographic: That’s Geography!” award, Karthikeyan won the Regeneron Biomedical Sciences award, Nautiyal won the Community Innovation award, Zeyad Ibrahim won the Justice Manning Award for Environmental Science and Ritchie won the Genius Olympiad award.

Keerthin Karthikeyan and Rishi Nautiyal were both selected as “Best of Fair” winners, and will compete in the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Atlanta, Georgia. The ISEF is scheduled for May 7 to May 13, and will be held in-person for the first time since 2019.

Berry and Ritchie were selected as “Best of Fair” alternates and will participate in the ISEF if other students drop out.