Middleburg Academy Senior Caswell Bennett's entry in the Shenandoah Regional Science Fair at James Madison University caught the attention of scientists interested in promoting environmental projects and earned him an "Exceptional Genius Award."

In addition, Bennett received an invitation to participate in an international high school project fair on environment, known as the Genius Olympiad, that takes place this June in Oswego, New York.

Caswell, a 2013 National Merit Scholarship Finalist, is still, like many of his classmates, weighing his college options.

His project, which he calls "The Free Energy Generator," was designed to generate a voltage from nothing more than ambient radio waves.

"This could," Caswell explains, "be a possible way to create 'free energy' -- that is energy that has no physical source."