Fort Lauderdale Students Attend White House Science Fair
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A personal invitation to the White House is something many people dream about. The science fair projects of two Broward County students earned them an invitation to the President's home in Washington D.C. Tuesday.
President Barack Obama hosted the 2014 White House Science Fair Tuesday.
Peyton Robertson, a Ft. Lauderdale resident, was invited to the White House after creating a prototype of a "sand-less" sand bag.
Obama was impressed with the kid's ingenuity, admitting his own science fair projects weren't always successful.
"A bunch of mice escaped in my grandmother's apartment," said President Obama about a not-so-successful science project.
Laura Herman, an 18-year-old from Fort Lauderdale, was among the students at the White House.
Herman's research on synesthesia earned her an invitation to meet the President at his home.
Herman explained synesthesia as, "people which synesthesia can taste music or feel emotions on their skin."
This year's White House Science Fair had a focus on girls and women who are excelling in science, technology, engineering and math.
"Woman in science should not be looked down on, it shouldn't be kind of a rare thing," said Herman.
"The opportunities that she's had in science research, I don't think in my generation we even had at the college level," said Laura's mother, Karen Herman.
Herman graduated from Pine Crest High School in Fort Lauderdale Thursday. She's already earned numerous scholarships because of her research and she will be heading to Princeton in the fall.