The current US flag was designed by a 17-year-old for a school project, he only received a B-.
In 1958, 17-year-old Robert G. Heft was assigned an American history project while attending Lancaster High School in Ohio. There were discussions about adding Hawaii and Alaska as new states, and Heft decided to come up with a design for a 50-star flag from the current 48-star flag that was already in place.
Heft spent twelve and a half hours coming up with a new arrangement and sewing the new flag, even though he didn’t know how to sew. He put the stars in four rows of five stars between five rows of six stars. When he turned the design into his teacher, Stanley Pratt, he received a “B-” for his work.
Pratt told Heft that the flag, “lacked originality,” and “anybody could make the flag.” His teacher even asked him if he knew how many states were in the United States. Pratt then told Heft that if he could get Congress to adopt it, he would receive a higher grade.
Heft sent his flag to his congressman in Ohio at the time, Representative Walter Moeller. Heft’s design won out over more than 1,500 other entries. Congress chose the design for the new flag that represented the two new states in the Union that were both admitted in 1959, and Heft’s design was adopted as the new flag of the United States on July 4, 1960. Heft was personally invited by Dwight D. Eisenhower to Washington D.C. for the official flag ceremony. His teacher even changed his grade to an “A.”