On October 18, President Obama hosted the White House Science Fair, where he celebrated America’s young people who are excelling in science, technology, engineering and math. (Watch the video.)
Among those in attendance were students from MATHCOUNTS, Engineers Week's Future City competition and the Junior Engineering Technical Society’s 2010 TEAMS Competition.
“I’ve had the Lakers here [at the White House]. I’ve had the Saints here, the Crimson Tide. I thought we ought to do the same thing for the winners of science fair and robotic contests, and math competitions,” Obama said to applause at the event. “Because often we don’t give these victories the attention that they deserve. And when you win first place at a science fair, nobody is rushing the field or dumping Gatorade over your head. But in many ways, our future depends on what happens in those contests—what happens when a young person is engaged in conducting an experiment, or writing a piece of software, or solving a hard math problem, or designing a new gadget. It’s in these pursuits that talents are discovered and passions are lit, and the future scientists, engineers, inventors, entrepreneurs are born.”
Obama also noted that engineering education is an excellent foundation for success. “This is an interesting statistic,” he said, “particularly at a time when young people are thinking about their careers: The most common educational background of CEOs in the S&P 500 companies—all right—the nation’s most successful, most powerful corporations—the most common study of CEOs is not business, it’s not finance, it’s not economics—it’s actually engineering. It’s engineering. So I want all the young people out there to think about that. Nothing can prepare you better for success than the education you’re receiving in math and science.”
