Land O’ Lakes IB Student Named Kid Science Advisor

LAND O’ LAKES, FL – Logan Beatty’s curiosity about the natural world led him to the White House last month.

Beatty, 14, a ninth-grader in Land O’ Lakes High School’s International Baccalaureate program, was one of 11 children invited to Washington, D.C., on Oct. 21 as representatives of President Barack Obama’s Kid Science Advisor campaign. Beatty was honored by the Pasco County School Board at their regular meeting on Nov. 16.

The Kid Science Advisor began at the White House’s sixth-grade science fair in April, when 9-year-old Jacob Leggette recommended to Obama that he should have a “kid science advisor.”

A few weeks later, children across the country were encouraged to send their science ideas to the White House in the form of a two-question survey: “What is your favorite thing about science, technology, engineering or math?” and “If you could pitch the president one idea on how we could make our country work better using science and technology, what would you say?”

In his essay, Beatty said he was interested in ocean exploration, where significant numbers of species and regions remain undiscovered.

Beatty and the other 10 Kid Science Advisors met with White House Science Advisor Dr. John Holdren, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, National Science Foundation Director France Cordova and former astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly. The group discussed the more than 2,500 ideas that came in from Kid Science Advisors from across the country.

Image courtesy of Pasco County Schools