Lead Explorer Spotlight: GLORIA

Gloria is a student of A.M.E Zion Basic School located at Pokuase in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. She is currently in JHS 1 and the Lead Explorer of the Exploratory club in her school. Gloria is one of the many girls who has, through their active involvement in club activities, discovered practical ways of solving basic problems facing them both at home and at school. Not suprisingly, Gloria was a member of the team that represented Pokuase at the grand finale of the #SolveforGhana Design Challenge.

How did you get introduced to The Exploratory club?
I joined the exploratory club in Primary 6 when my teacher introduced me to a very simple way of verifying thumbprints of thieves using materials like ink and clean sheets of paper. I realized at that moment that science as a subject is not as complex as I used to believe. I had always believed that the only way I could make good grades in exams was to spend more time studying.

I wanted to become an environmental scientist who would research new and simple ways of recycling waste to help improve on sanitation in Ghana and beyond.

How has the experience been so far?
Becoming a member of the club has given me exposure to the use of some scientific equipment, like the microscope. Through the Exploratory club, we have also learnt how to use simple materials to design and produce a working prototype of an electro-brine generator. I admit that after joining the club, science has become interesting and easy because of the experiments we always do.

Pokuase team working on model of the generator they designed

How do you share knowledge gained at the club?
I help my friends in school and at church, especially those who get confused about processes or procedures used in conducting experiments. I also share with them easy ways to learn and understand science.

What kind of scientist would you want to be?
I wanted to become an environmental scientist who would research new and simple ways of recycling waste to help improve on sanitation in Ghana and beyond. I also would have loved to conduct research on simple ways of producing biogas with biomass. I also had dreams of designing a machine that could make the preparation of ‘fufu’ much easier and less stressful and also as a way of addressing noise pollution in Ghana [since pounding fufu is noisy]!

What advice do you have for your peers?
I want them to know that science is not a difficult subject and as a matter of fact there is science in everything we do. I also want to encourage them to always put their ideas into action.

My advice to my mates in the Exploratory club is that our main purpose as members is to improve on our knowledge base in science and not to relearn [what we covered in school] science.

Any message to your teachers and The Exploratory?
To my teachers: Keep it up, you are doing good work!

And finally to The Exploratory: You have done a lot for us and we appreciate it!