This year’s INEPO national finals took place at Fatih College in İstanbul’s Büyükçekmece district and saw record participation with a variety of large-scale projects.A total of 632 projects competed at the event. İstanbul was the province that had the most applicants, with 124 projects, followed by Ankara (73), İzmir (58), Manisa (35), Ordu (22), Adana (20), Sakarya (19), Muğla (17), Batman (16) and Elazığ (15).
İstanbul Deputy Governors Harun Kaya and Feyzullah Özcan, İstanbul Provincial Education Director Muammer Yıldız and İzmir Provincial Education Director Ragıp Üye participated in the award ceremony.
İstanbul Deputy Governor Kaya noted that INEPO has been playing an important role in raising awareness about the environment for new generations. “Raising awareness is of crucial importance to effectively combating problems in the world. I believe that thanks to INEPO and these kinds of events, we will deal with all problems,” noted Kaya.
Following Kaya’s speech, students were given their medals. The gold medalists were Alperen Açıkgöz, Mehmet Günay, Muhammed Serpi, Muhammed Öztürkcı, Zeyt Ozan Temli, Abdullah Enes Sarıbeyoğlu, Asena Başkan, Melisa Bilgin, Enes Aydoğdu and Özgür Turan Öztürk.
In addition, five students -- Ekrem Gündoğdu, Efe Gülerci, İdil Özdamar, Aytekin Güçlü and Tuğberk Vural -- won the right to represent Turkey at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) to be held in the US on May 9-14.
INEPO has traditionally been organized jointly under the leadership of the Nature Association, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the Ministry of Education, Fatih University and Fatih College. The international final, scheduled for May 19-22 this year, is expected to be attended by hundreds of young inventors from around the world. The Olympiad has five categories -- environmental biology, environmental chemistry, environmental health, social environment and environmental physics. The project is supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
