Paying Attention in Class?

Eniola Shokunbi loves science. She loves the learning. She loves the application. She loves the results. “A lot of people, they don’t realize sometimes that the only thing standing between them and getting sick is science,” she says. And that is what she loves most: how science helps people.

Classrooms can be breeding grounds for airborne illnesses. Lots of kids, small physical spaces, and germs, germs, germs. The average kindergartner misses 10 to 15 days of school per year due to illness. Those are valuable days that could be spent learning and developing social skills they need to succeed in life.

Filtering a classroom like a hospital surgical room is far too costly. How to filter classrooms with an affordable device? That’s the scientific question Shokunbi wrestled with. So she began building prototypes and studying airflow. At the time, she was in the fifth grade – an age when most kids are obsessed with sports, shopping and TikTok.

Shokunbi came up with a simple box that filters air coming in and going out. It is made of available materials and a plug-in fan. The air is 99% cleaner and removes the viruses so common in school classrooms, including the COVID virus. It is even certified by the EPA. And the best part is, it only costs $60.

“I want kids to go to school knowing they’re safe, that they’re healthy, that they can learn,” Shokunbi says.

Sometimes the best solutions are created by the very people most affected. Shokunbi loves school, and she knows school is the path that leads to her ultimate ambition: President of the United States.

“Eniola is fabulous,” Connecticut State Senator Matt Lesser says. “She wows every room she’s in front of. She’s a real rock star.”

Endorsements like that make you believe she just might do it one day. But for now, she is focused on getting this simple invention into every classroom in America and beyond. First stop: Connecticut classrooms. Her device got an $11.5 million grant to build devices for every elementary school classroom.

From a simple cardboard box taped together to clean air for every student to the Oval Office. Don’t underestimate a girl with smarts and dreams.

Ambition… PassItOn.com®