There is no doubt who Desiree and Brandon Smith’s favorite student in the whole wide world is. That would the couple’s oldest son, 8-year-old Quentin Smith, a Pine Meadow Elementary School second grader—a sweet, friendly smiling boy with a love of science and the skies and what’s beyond.
In fact, Quentin just might be America’s Favorite Student. For real.
Quentin was announced as the winner of his group in the annual America’s Favorite Student competition, an annual fundraiser for The Planetary Society, a nonprofit founded by legendary astronomist Carl Sagan to advance space science and exploration.
He is now in the quarterfinals where Quentin will face off against other group winners for a chance to meet Bill Nye the Science Guy with a free trip to The Planetary Society in Pasadena, California, have an article about them published in Reader’s Digest—ask your grandparents—and $20,000. Group voting ended April 23 and voting in the quarterfinals begins on April 27. People can vote online once a day, with additional votes available through donations to The Planetary Society.
To vote for Quentin beginning April 27, go to www.americasfavstudent.org/2026/quentin-smith-2.
The grand prize winner will be announced in June.
Why does Quentin want to be America’s Favorite Student?
“Bill Nye the Science Guy,” Quentin said, a big smile stretching across his smile. “I want to meet him.”
(Nye is The Planetary Society ambassador and vice chair of the board of directors.)
Quentin is also hoping that Nye’s friend, former NASA engineer and now popular YouTube creator Mark Rober—he’s been called the Bill Nye of this generation by some—who teaches children about science with cool videos such as “Acid vs. Lava − Testing Liquids That Melt Everything” and “Egg Drop from Space.”
“I really want to meet him,” Quentin said of Rober, adding a “really” that Nye didn’t seem to get from the youngster.
Quentin is a straight A student. On his last report card he received 100 percent grades in Art, Music, Science, Social Studies and Citizenship and got a 99 percent in Math and a 98 percent in language arts. Math is his least favorite subject; science is his favorite.
But the young fella didn’t start off with high marks. Quentin’s mother, Desiree Smith, said her son has ADHD and struggled in school starting in pre-K.
“It was his attentiveness and his impulsivity,” she said, while Quentin twirled like a top nearby. “You can see it now too, but he was impulsive to the part where it was hard for him to focus on the lesson. He was having a really hard focusing. It was illegibility when he was writing because he was just kind of scattered everywhere, and when he was reading words would sometimes be backwards because of a little dyslexia. But he turned it around.”
He worked hard, but he also had support.
“It was him working and his school being so supportive,” Desiree Smith said. “They were just so willing to help. He had a classroom grandmother who would help him and work with him in kindergarten. There’s just been so much support.”
The couple found tools to help him, including a device that blocks out everything except the line a child is reading and simple things like larger pencils to help with penmanship, once a very important subject in school yonder ago.
Smith signed Quentin up for the America’s Favorite Student competition after seeing it advertised on social media.
“I kind of clicked on it and saw that Bill Nye was involved,” she said. “I grew up on him in the 1990s. I thought I would throw the hat in the ring because he’s worked so hard.”
Quentin hopes to be an astronaut one day. Check that. An astronaut and YouTuber where he can go into space and make awesome science videos for kids like himself someday. Or kids like his baby brother, Theo, 2. (Quentin said he “loves” being a big brother.)
Quentin wants to go to another planet, or someplace “close to the sun” and said he wouldn’t be scared.
Except…
“I’d be scared if there were aliens.”
Quentin has also received support from the community, those who voted for him once or daily or even more with donations. Many of those shared his voting page online introducing Quentin to even more people.
If Quentin wins, the family will establish a college fund for the youngster and enroll him in private stem programs.
Desiree and Brandon are both working parents. He’s an inventory control specialist and she’s a top assistant at Patti Marine Enterprises, where Quentin has received a lot of support and votes.
“Quentin has worked hard to overcome the challenges of ADHD, going from struggling in school to earning straight A’s,” Mandy Patti of Patti Marine. “His journey is incredibly inspiring.”
Her father, Frank Patti Jr., called Quentin “a force of nature” and a “future astronaut.”
Quentin’s own father?
“He’s one of the smartest kids I’ve known,” Brandon Smith said. “He learns things almost immediately, which is kind of scary sometimes. He’s just kind of a perfect kid. We’re so very blessed to have him, that’s for sure.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: America’s Favorite Student might be Pensacola second-grader
Reporting by Troy Moon, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
