WASHINGTON, D.C. — After President Obama took office, he started a new annual tradition — a White House Science Fair. His idea was simple: if NCAA champions are heralded for their achievements with an invitation to the White House, so should young champions of science and technology.
Dozens of students from all over the country presented their experiments and findings in the White House on Wednesday for the sixth and final Science Fair of Obama’s time in office. The topics of the experiments ranged from robots to rockets, from 3D printing to vaccines.
Before opening the science fair up to the press, the President gave a speech in the White House East Room.
“You teach us about the power of reason and logic, and trying things and figuring out whether they work, and if they don’t, learning from that and trying something new,” Obama said. “And you remind us that, together, through science, we can tackle some of the biggest challenges that we face.”
Two teams represented Indiana — Devon and Trevor Langley, ages 14 and 11 respectively, from Terre Haute and Annie Ostojic, 13, from Munster.
Devon and Trevor came up with a way to help dyslexic students having trouble learning math — a color coding system that assigns a specific color of the rainbow to different place values of digits. Their app prototype is called the ROY G. BIV Math System, according to a press release from the White House.
They said they were inspired to study the disorder after seeing actor Henry Winkler speak about his childhood struggles with dyslexia.
Ostojic went a completely different route for her experiment, which attempts to evenly heat food in a microwave.
When she and her dad were trying to warm up some frozen food in the microwave, she found it to be inedible. To tackle the problem of frozen food not heating all the way through the center and to try to eliminate hotspot waste, Ostojic designed a system of reflectors that would efficiently distribute heat throughout the microwave. This heats the food better and helps the environment at the same time. She’s applied for a patent for the new design.
Ostojic said coming to the White House was an honor.
“People here today have encouraged me to go through with the patent and different things like that that really have impacted me,” she said.
Looking ahead, Ostojic said she sees herself majoring in engineering in college.
Her father, Ron, was also at the White House today, and was beaming with pride for his daughter.
“She had interest in science since she was small, and I don’t have a background in science, so it clicked somewhere along the line,” Ron said. “She took advantage of it, and we’re standing in the White House today.”
Shaking the President’s hand and seeing Bill Nye the Science Guy in the flesh — not too bad for a school day.
