Barack Obama and a personal childhood favorite, Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy’ welcomed a group of younger science and technology innovators to to the White House on Monday, as part of the President’s growing effort to promote innovation from all sides. President Obama has been pushing out tech initiatives consistently over the past couple weeks, bringing innovators to the White House for the State of the Union, bringing the Startup Act to Congress, and now, encouraging young inventors to show off their projects to him at the White House. He even helped shoot off a marshmallow cannon…yeah, we know…we wish there was a video of it.
“The young people I met today, the young people behind me — you guys inspire me. It’s young people like you that make me so confident that America’s best days are still to come. When you work and study and excel at what you’re doing in math and science, when you compete in something like this, you’re not just trying to win a prize today. You’re getting America in shape to win the future. You’re making sure we have the best, smartest, most skilled workers in the world, so that the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root right here. You’re making sure we’ll always be home to the most creative entrepreneurs, the most advanced science labs and universities. You’re making sure America will win the race to the future.
Unbelievable prodigies were honored by the President including:
- A girl who built a sugar packet that dissolves in hot water (will save up to 2 million lbs of trash/year)
- A boy who built a robot/video camera apparatus with Skype to keep senior citizens in touch with their families at nursing homes.
We took special note as the President made a note to reporters and editors to “give this some attention.” The President continued his plea, saying, “This is the kind of stuff…what these young people are doing…that’s going to make a bigger difference in the life of our country in the long term than just about anything…we’ve got to emphasize how important this is.”
Amen, Mr. President.
Here’s another awesome photo of the President marveling at the marshmallow cannon:
Here’s a clip of Obama honoring these unbelievable youngsters who will most certainly become a valuable part of our future.