President Barack Obama speaks with Morgan Ard, Titus Walker and Robert Knight, eighth-grade students at Monroeville Junior High School in Monroeville, Alabama, as they demonstrate their award-winning robots during a tour of the White House Science Fair in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 7, 2012. Photo: SAUL LOEB, AFP/Getty Images / 2012 AFP

Special to the NNPA from the Washington Informer

 WASHINGTON, DC — President Barack Obama hosted the second White House Science Fair on Tuesday, Feb. 7, which celebrated student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions from across the country.The President also announced key steps that the Administration and its partners are taking to help more students excel in math and science, and earn degrees in these subjects.

At the fair, the President viewed exhibits of student work, ranging from breakthrough research to new inventions, robotics and biological science studies followed by remarks to an audience of students, science educators and business leaders on the importance of STEM education to the country’s economic future.

The President hosted the first-ever White House Science Fair in late 2010, fulfilling a commitment he made at the launch of his “Educate to Innovate” campaign to inspire students to excel in math and science.

As the President noted then, “If you win the NCAA championship, you come to the White House. Well, if you’re a young person and you produce the best experiment or design, the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement, too.”

In addition, over the past year, the President met with the three young women who won the Google Science Fair, met a student robotics team on his bus tour through North Carolina and Virginia, and made a surprise appearance at the New York City Science Fair.