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International humanitarian groups are still reeling from President Trump slashing hundreds of jobs and spending by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. There are consequences large and small reaching all the way down to high school science fairs. Henry Larson has this report from Colorado.
HENRY LARSON, BYLINE: In February, 15-year-old Max Kurtz was setting up for his first-ever high school science fair in Boulder, Colorado.
MAX KURTZ: So I don't know. I was just looking at people's projects, but I think the biggest thing I saw was that I was underdressed. So I texted my parents, and I was like, hey, can you bring me some clothes? I think I'm underdressed for this. And I don't think my dad was very happy about it, but he did pull through.
LARSON: Kurtz had been working with a mentor at the University of Colorado on a project that measured microbes and soil, which could help farmers get the most yield from their crops. He didn't advance to the next round of competition, but his project did win an award, sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID. The award was given to projects that hold, quote, "the potential to improve lives around the world." And it came with a prize - a conversation with a USAID employee to talk about his project and about pursuing a career in science and engineering with a humanitarian focus. That was a big deal for Max.
MAX: USAID does so much for developing communities, which is something that's really important to me - right? - something that I want to do in the long term, career-wise.
LARSON: But then, a few days later, he got an email from the Society for Science, which helps coordinate science fairs all over the country. It said USAID pulled all their contracts with science fairs. And that conversation Max was promised? It was canceled. Society for Science's Hunter Hart.
HUNTER HART: Essentially, the point of that message was just to say, hey, we've received this staff work order. You know, obviously, this agency is no longer functioning and is being dissolved.
LARSON: USAID has sponsored awards at these competitions for more than a decade, including a cash prize for an international science fair, giving away more than $300,000 over the last decade. Not anymore. Max Kurtz' prize didn't come with money, just a conversation with a USAID staffer. But Hart says it's still unfortunate.
HART: And maybe it made them feel like their work wasn't as valued as it once was - right? - to receive something and then be told, oh, by the way, the organization that you received this award from can't honor it because of larger issues.
LARSON: Hunter estimates that about a third of the Society for Science's affiliated regional fairs in the United States happened before he received that stop work order. A statement from a State Department spokesperson said supporting science fair awards did, quote, "not fit within the standards laid out by Secretary Rubio for U.S. foreign assistance, which must make the United States stronger, safer or more prosperous."
Cuts to USAID are having much bigger effects around the world than the loss of science fair prizes for U.S. high schoolers. Billions of dollars that were destined to fight infectious diseases and hunger aren't getting spent. For Max Kurtz, the Colorado sophomore, his science fair project has been a hard lesson.
MAX: After having the award taken away, even though it's not nearly as big of a deal or anywhere close to as big of a deal as losing your job or getting aid to your country cut, it's still just made the funding cuts that are happening in other areas feel so much more real on a personal level.
LARSON: Kurtz is still interested in science. He's already planning to enter the fair again next year, and he's working on a new design to make that soil sensor he helped build even better.
For NPR News, I'm Henry Larson.
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