Who designed the 50-star United States flag as a high-school project?

Robert G. Heft designed the 50-star United States flag as a high-school project.

In 1958, Heft was a student in Lancaster, Ohio, when he created a proposed 50-star flag for a class assignment. He arranged the stars in five rows of six alternating with four rows of five, anticipating that Hawaii would join Alaska in statehood.

His teacher initially gave the project a low grade because the additional stars were not yet required. After Alaska and Hawaii became states, however, Heft’s design matched the arrangement selected by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and adopted in 1959.

The flag with 50 stars became official on July 4, 1960, after Hawaii’s admission. The familiar story sometimes credits Betsy Ross with the first American flag, but the 50-star design belongs to the modern era and has a documented student designer.