Senior Alton Barber, was one of three students selected across the state of Iowa to receive the Hoover Uncommon Student Award.
The Hoover Uncommon Student Award is a $5,000 scholarship in which high school students apply for around March in their junior year. After the applications are received, 15 students are chosen to propose and complete an original project that they design and create.
All 15 finalists presented their projects on Presentation Day, Oct. 13, an event sponsored by the Hoover Presidential Foundation at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum.
The finalists were all awarded a $1,500 scholarship, but the three students that received the award were given an additional $5,000 which adds up to a $6,500 award. The three recipients of the Hoover Uncommon Student Award were judged and chosen by a panel of judges on Presentation Day.
This award is unlike others in the aspect that it does not look at the financial needs, grades, or test scores to determine the recipient of the scholarship. This program focuses mainly on the project that each applicant creates and the development of the project.
Barber was not only one of the 15 finalists, but he was one of the three students awarded from all across Iowa. His project was titled the “Big Blue World”, an organization that he started two years ago.
Barber claimed that his project, “gives students with learning differences the chance to participate in the FIRST robotics.” He also stated, “the goal is to let the students have fun in something they show interest in.”
After several years of volunteering at summer school, Barber noticed an interest that many of the kids had in robotics. This led him to the idea of teaching kids robotics in his original program “Big Blue World”.
Through “Big Blue World”, students are also able to make friends with other students that share their interests. Barber explained how these students are breaking the mold by showing the community they are just as capable as any other student.
