STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

If the world was made up of doors, you’d find Ruby Rager checking behind each one.

A 4th grader at Alturas Elementary, Ruby observes the world around her with curiosity.

She loves reading graphic novels—she’s currently immersed in one on the Sinking of the Titanic. She recently took up violin and is quick to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on it.

Lindsay Rager decided her daughter Ruby Rager should have an opportunity to meet Bill Nye the Science Guy, as she herself did while in college.

She loves to sculpt clay bowls that she can eat out of. She’s painted a lovely acrylic work of two towering pine trees amidst snow, and she’s selling beaded daisy bracelets featuring flowers made of beads at intervals to pay for a summer student field trip to Washington, D.C.

Now the Bellevue girl has risen to the top of America’s Favorite Student Competition—Colossal’s nationwide campaign raising funds and awareness for The Planetary Society. If she wins, she gets to meet Bill Nye the Science Guy, tour The Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif., be featured in Reader’s Digest and win $20,000.

The cash prize would cover her trip to Washington, D.C., and that of her mother, who plans to go as chaperone. She’d use the rest to attend theater and other summer camps and subscribe to Mark Rober’s monthly science boxes. The rest would go into savings account for future education.

Ruby, the daughter of Matt and Lindsay Rager, is up against several other students in the competition, which started March 16. With support from family and friends, she held first place during the first few rounds of competition as the number of contestants was winnowed to 20, then 15.

Ruby Rager is taking violin and piano lessons.

She’s currently in second place, and she’s hoping residents of the Wood River Valley will vote for her through the remainder of the competition, which runs through May 21.

People can examine the profiles and pictures of contestants, then place one vote a day for their favorite at https://americasfavstudent.org/2026/ruby-19. Those who donate $10 can get 10 votes, with the money going towards The Planetary Society.

It was Lindsay Rager who nominated her daughter.

“As a ’90s kid who grew up watching Bill Nye the Science Guy, I’ve always been passionate about supporting The Planetary Society. I even had the chance to meet Bill Nye during my freshman year of college, and it would be incredibly meaningful for Ruby to have that opportunity too!” said Lindsay.

Ruby Rager painted this picture of pine trees with a river rushing by.

Ruby hasn’t had the opportunity to watch Bill Nye the Science Guy, but she’s keen on meeting him

“He’s cool. He likes science,” she said.

Ruby also likes science. Her class is currently learning about light and energy, in particular gravitational energy.

“We’re learning that things go down, not up,” she said.

Lindsay described her daughter as entertaining, entrepreneurial, kind and inspiring.

She loves going to school because of her amazing friends and caring teachers who make every day fun and interesting. And she loves art because it gives her the freedom to express her imagination and turn ideas into something beautiful.

“Ruby loves schools and she’s passionate about everything,” said her mother. “She likes science, arts and music. She’s in the fourth-grade dual immersion program and speaks Spanish well. She’s does violin with the Sun Valley Music Institute and she takes piano lessons. She’s done Girls on the Run and she’s learning traditional Folklorico dances with the Spanish Dance Club. Every time she sees something, she wants to do it. She loves school and she loves life.”

Currently, Ruby has been selling home baked cookies and her bracelets at the three Atkinsons’ Markets in the valley once a month to raise money to go on a summer school trip to Washington, D.C.,

“I think it would be fun to go to Washington. They have memorials there,” said Ruby, who is also raising money through babysitting.

Last Saturday at the Atkinsons Market in Ketchum she custom made daisy bracelets out of elastic and beads for a bride and groom who stopped by, adding their names to the bracelets.

She and her mother bake the chocolate chip cookies they sell using the recipe from Perry’s Restaurant.

“When Perry’s opened, I was 2 and we lived up the street so my mom and I would go for a walk and get cookies,” Lindsay recounted. “When they closed, I told them how much I loved their recipes, so they gave me the recipe for the Sunshine Oatmeal Raisin cookies and the Chocolate Chip ones. We had to cut the recipe by 16 times to make sure we don’t waste any.”

Lindsay says she hopes the community will rally for her daughter as they move deeper into America’s Favorite Student competition.

“If Ruby wins, it would be truly life changing,” she said.