HARRISONBURG, Va -- Thomas Harrison Middle School students in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math program, also called STEM, heard from a former White House science advisor and a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Ken Rutherford won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for work he did with landmines and other weapons used in high conflict areas. He is a landmine survivor and lives in Harrisonburg.

Duane Blackburn worked with national security forces as a science advisor.

Both Rutherford and Blackburn wanted to get kids this age excited about science. Mark Shindyapin, an 8th grader, is already excited.

"Someone who works in the White House, that's someone who has a lot of influence,” said Mark, “And a Nobel Peace Prize winner, you have to do something pretty special to be recognized in that sort of fashion. So, I feel honored that I get to meet two people like that and I hope that another chance like this could come up soon.”

Mark hopes to go to the University of Virginia and study robotics or marine biology when he grows up.

 Follow Amelia Nahmias on Facebook.