President Barack Obama rode a bicycle at the White House Science Fair on April 22. But it wasn't an ordinary bike. As he pedaled, the President stayed in place, while the energy from his pedaling powered a water filtration   system. He was testing an invention created by a team of 14 students from Northeast High School, in Oakland Park, Florida. Payton Karr, 16, and Kiona Elliot, 18, attended the fair as representatives of the project."We were hoping President Obama would ride the bike, but we didn't actually expect him to," Payton told TFK. " It really meant a lot." Kiona agreed. "It was pretty awesome to see the invention, which was invented by a group of 14 high school students and one teacher, along with the help of community members, got the interest of the leader of our nation," she said. The project was an idea that came about after one of the Northeast students, Kalie Hoke, visited Haiti after the terrible 2010 earthquake and saw how difficult it was to find clean water. The students invented a portable , bicycle-powered emergency water filtration system, which can provide 20-30 people with drinking water in a 15-hour period. The teens hope their invention will one day be used by relief organizations like the Red Cross. " They can take it to places after natural disasters so that water can be clean for the people there," said Payton. Payton and Kiona were among the 100 students from more than 40 states invited to the third annual White House Science Fair, in Washington, D.C., which is also attended by leaders in science and education. President Obama started the event in 2010 to _ students interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths)."Well, if you're a young person and you produce the best experiment or design, you ought to be recognized for that achievement," Obama said when he first announced the fair. President Obama praised the projects during a speech to attendees after the fair. "The science fair projects of today could become the products and businesses of tomorrow," he said. "If you're inventing things in the third grade, what are you going to do by the time you get to college?" The bicycle-powered water filtration system was designed   _  .
at the request of the Red Cross for city families to get pure water during the terrible 2010 earthquake in Haiti to provide people in disaster areas with clean water