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

Published on 4/13/2016 at 7:16 PM

President Obama has made history for various reasons — including being the first president to ever host a White House Science Fair back in 2010. Today, he held the last one of his administration and toured projects created by students from across the country. Some created machines to fight climate change, others 3D printers and mini spacecrafts.

Obama gave a speech at the event, saying, "If you were not blown away from some of the young people we just had a chance to meet, then you had too big of a lunch and you were falling asleep, because if you were paying attention, it was unbelievable."

.@POTUS highlights a few of the young innovators at the #WHScienceFair: https://t.co/zebPBWO67z https://t.co/lA6FZFUYsk

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 13, 2016

Ahead, see pictures of Obama touring the projects with plenty of smiles.

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.