President Obama Had a Blast at His Last White House Science Fair

President Obama tried out a project created by Rebecca and Kimberly Yeung. The sisters are from Seattle, WA, and built a homemade spacecraft out of arrows and wood scraps before launching it into the stratosphere with a helium balloon.

The spacecraft records location coordinates, temperature, velocity, and pressure and reports the info back to the sisters.

The project is named Loki Lego Launcher after their cat who passed away and the Marvel superhero.

President Obama held a replica of the White House made with a 3D printer by 9-year-old Jacob Leggette from Baltimore, MD. When the boy wanted to enter the Digital Harbor Foundation's MiniMakers challenge but didn't have a 3D printer, he wrote letters to different companies and asked them if they would give him a printer in exchange for feedback on how easily a kid could use the machine. They agreed and he makes his own toys with them now.

Another thing Leggette created with a 3D printer? A bubble wand.

The Girl Scout Troop #1484 from St. Louis, MO, shared some laughs with the president while describing their project — a bin called Eco Bin that can dissolve styrofoam (which can take hundreds of years to decompose) when it's mixed with water. As a result of this experiment, they discovered a sticky substance that they bottled for art projects and are calling GlOo. They've won state awards and a chance to compete for the Global Innovation Award and are now pursuing patents for both projects.

Amro Halwah showed off what he created with two other students named Stephen Mwingria and Si Ya Wendy Ni who live in New York City. They noticed that trash fires on the subway were causing delays that affected students on their way to school, so they invented a robot that moves along subway rails to vacuum up trash. Amro and Stephen came to the US less than 10 years ago and Si Ya Wendy is a first-generation college student.

After touring the different science projects, President Obama gave a speech at the White House Science Fair and chatted with students.