Washington Students Attend 4th Annual White House Science Fair

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

OBAMA: Welcome to the White House Science Fair.  I love this event. This is one of my favorite things all year long. 

Those were the opening remarks made by President Obama this week as he welcomed students, parents and honored guests to the 4th annual White House Science Fair. Both Ashlee Tarro and Celine Patrick, FFA members and students at Sumner High School, were able to hear the President first hand, as they were invited to attend and present their state and national award winning agriscience project at this year’s event. The girls’ 2013 National FFA Agriscience Fair winning project was in the Plant Systems category and focused on solving a severe aphid infestation, which was prompted by just such an infestation in their high school greenhouse. In an FFA press release the girls explained that they did not want to have to resort to the use of harsh pesticides to eliminate the infestation, which prompted them to explore three alternative methods for their control, all three of which proved safe, though varying in labor intensity.

With two daughters of his own the President has been committed to helping elevate women and girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. During his speech he emphasized that currently “fewer than one in five bachelor’s degrees in engineering or computer science are earned by women, and fewer than three in ten workers in science and engineering are women.”  He went on to stress that those numbers have to be changed. If Tarro and Patrick are any indication, those numbers will be improving within the not too distant future.

That’s Washington Ag Today.

I’m Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.