Middle Schooler Leads $11.5 Million Project to Build Air Filters for Connecticut Schools

Oct 26, 2024

A young Connecticut student is vowing classmates, students, and even state senators with her work designing cheap new air filters for classrooms.

Her name is Eniola Shokunbi, and before she reaches her goal of becoming President of the United States, she wanted to help keep classrooms free from cold and flu viruses circulating through the air.

In fifth grade, Shokunbi led some of her classmates in a design and build project at the Commodore MacDonough STEM Academy in Middletown, CT. Her idea was to create an air filter to clear the air of viruses circulating within aerosols through classrooms, which she managed with just a box fan, 4 furnace filters, duct tape, and cardboard.

With help from scientists at the University of Connecticut, she and her classmates tested and gathered results on the air filter’s potency and then took a field trip to the EPA, where the results were presented.

“This stuff is more effective than a lot of the commercial products on the market; it’s a lot cheaper and a lot more effective,” State Senator Matt Lesser told NBC CT.

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Shokunbi was in the room when the Connecticut State Bond Commission unanimously approved $11.5 million for the assembly and installation of the air filter system for other schools in the state, which the now-sixth grader said furthered her goal of getting these filters installed in every classroom in America.

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“I want them to go to school knowing that they’re safe, that they’re healthy, that they can learn,” Shokunbi said. “I really love explaining to people and seeing their faces, seeing them realize that this could change so many lives.”

WATCH the story below from NBC CT…

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