Three students from the Hunter Mill District won Grand Prizes at the 71st annual Fairfax County Regional Science and Engineering Fair, earning spots at the national competition in Arizona.

Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid highlighted the fair during an Academic Matters presentation to the FCPS School Board in June, calling it "a true community undertaking." The fair itself was held in March and featured over 640 students presenting more than 400 projects across 15 categories.

The Grand Prize winners from Hunter Mill were Julia Hatcher of Madison High School in Animal Sciences, Polina Anfilofyev of Marshall High School in Biomedical and Health Sciences and Parham Yeganeh of Marshall High School in Physics and Astronomy. All three advanced to state and then national-level competition.

Hunter Mill District School Board Member Melanie Meren attended the fair and helped present awards. In her newsletter, Meren said she arrived early for the open house and met student scientists from both South Lakes High School and Madison High School who shared their work. Some South Lakes students earned First Place and Grand Prize awards, though the district has not published a school-by-school breakdown of all winners.

A full list of category award winners is posted on the FCPS website.

"These winners are eligible to compete in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in May. Many others are eligible to compete in the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair in April. Congratulations to our winners and we wish them luck in their next round!" the website states.

The fair is open to any qualifying high school student in Fairfax County, not just those enrolled in FCPS. It relies on more than 300 professional judges drawn from businesses, universities and community partners, plus support from dozens of STEM-related organizations, according to the FCPS presentation.

Separately, a team affiliated with South Lakes High School earned an Honorable Mention at the 10th annual Fairfax Area High School Shark Tank Technology Challenge in May 2026. Jacob Colon, Kalab Getachew, Natanim Getachew, Elijah Greene, Caleb St. John and Chloe Roberts presented their project "Silver Glide."

FCPS is also adopting new math instructional materials for Math 6 through Algebra 2 starting in the 2026-27 school year. Reston families who want input on those resources have until Sunday, July 12, to submit feedback through the FCPS public comment window.