EF Academy students making an impact - 5 student stories

5 student stories

EF Academy students making an impact

A patent for a new surgical mask Isabella from Italy,

EF Academy New York

I am Isabella. I’m Italian, and I did all 4 years of my high school at EF Academy New York. I was very passionate about all the classes I attended, however I have to admit that biology, physics, and art were the subjects that I was especially interested in. I was part of the Environmental Club, Book Club, and Film Club at EF Academy.

In 2020, as the COVID pandemic spread across the globe, I developed a new surgical mask, which fixed some of the issues of the existing ones. The idea came when my dad and I wondered what we could do to improve surgical masks. The first thing I thought about was the ineffective sealing of the surgical masks, so we came up with a design that would make the filter more useful, and thus create a more functional and efficient mask. My only goal was to do something that would help people.

Then, I thought of adding a further flap of nonwoven fabric on the upper part of a surgical mask, to prevent air from escaping. Without that flap, masks filter much less. My father and I designed it, I made the drawings, and he taught me how to write the patent. In this project the inventors were my dad and I. Now the masks with my patent are produced by other companies. In a few months there were millions of masks in circulation with my patent.

Organizing myself between the patent and school work was a challenge. I gave up most of my social life and a few hours of sleep to reach my goal. But I also found that one task helped the other. At the time we had not yet covered the respiratory system; all the information I found was thanks to the teachings of my dad and the Polytechnic University of Turin.

What’s the most valuable thing you learned from this experience?

That I will do anything to help people and contribute to the field of science.

These are things that make me feel alive, that make me want to get up in the morning. I respect science and knowledge and I find it has helped me immensely during the worst times of my life. This experience has given me so much more than I could ever give, it helped me sharpen my identity.

efacademy.org

Fighting period poverty in Bangladesh

Nameeda from Bangladesh, EF Academy New York

My name is Nameeda, I am from Bangladesh, and I studied at EF Academy New York. I am now studying Economics at the University of Connecticut.

Foundation 21 was slowly gaining momentum when I came across the organization on social media. As I went through their projects I was immediately humbled and interested by the charity work they had done throughout the country with the help of students just like me to make a real difference in people’s lives. It's a non-profit, youth-led charity based organization committed to improving menstrual hygiene, fighting period poverty, raising awareness and breaking taboos. They have carried out many projects in rural and slum areas where period kits were donated that contained sanitary and menstrual hygiene products.

Do you have a role model?

Dr Zohra Begum Kazi, widely regarded as the first Bengali Muslim physician is certainly one of them. Her activism and social work not only brought more women to hospitals, but also encouraged them to pursue medicine. Thus, her dedication and strength to fight and create opportunities for women at a time when they were constantly undermined is very motivating.

Period poverty is a huge health crisis. There is a shortage of menstrual products and resources for women due to insufficient access and a lack of awareness in low income, underprivileged communities where discussions about menstruation are still considered very off-limits. As such, failure to meet basic human needs poses a direct danger to physical and mental health, which in return creates more challenges like missing out on an education or leading to serious infections. As of 2021, over 89% of 78 million women in Bangladesh still use rags instead of the right sanitary products, leading to a series of health issues and holding them back from an otherwise bright future.

"All of us come from a position of privilege, so it’s part of our responsibility to give back to our community and contribute to battling issues around the world."

What advice do you have for students who want to make a difference in the world?

The first step is to simply get started! There are always places where we can lend a helping hand and it can start small from just donating food to homeless shelters and signing petitions or even having difficult conversations with people we are surrounded by.

efacademy.org

Finding your passion at university Peter from Norway,

EF Academy Oxford

My name is Peter, I'm from Norway and I studied at EF Academy Oxford. I'm currently in my second year at the University of Berkeley studying Environmental Economics and Data Science. My interest in working with the environment stems from my constant engagement with nature. My home town on the west coast of Norway has a wild and beautiful environment. With time I started realizing the

How do you find your

impact that humans have on nature, and how

passion on campus?

vulnerable the environment can be. That

I have found so many

instilled the idea in me that I wanted to do

opportunities at EF Academy

something and make a difference for the planet.

and Berkeley. I think exploring different things, even if you

You are not born environmentally minded, you

are not sure about them, and

have to find reasons for it. For me, it's skiing.

spending time with people

The skiing season in Norway is becoming

who think differently than you

shorter every year. Seeing this change

is very inspiring. Being in a

encouraged my curiosity and ignited my desire to learn more.

place where people are passionate and not afraid of sharing their thoughts and opinions is a great environment to thrive in.

The time I spent at EF Academy was incredibly helpful, it truly opened my mind towards pursuing an international education. I am very certain that I would not have been studying at Berkeley today, had it not been because of the time I spent at EF Academy Oxford. It gave me a taste of spending time outside of my academic comfort zone. Pursuing the IB program and making friends from all over the world, who I am still in contact with today, has been incredibly helpful for me on a personal level but also on an academic level, as it has forced me to think differently. I am very grateful for that.

If there's something that I'm particularly driven to achieve, it's to become a 'possibilist.' The late professor Hans Rosling coined the expression. Being a possibilist is about seeing possibilities, grasping them and being curious about things. So, I would say that my long term goal in life, whatever I choose to do, is to catch opportunities and enabling change in the world.

efacademy.org

Knitting to help the homeless

Marie from Norway,

EF Academy Oxford

My name is Marie and I studied at EF Academy Oxford for two years and obtained my IB Diploma there. I am now studying Chemistry at the University of Oxford.

There is a lot of homelessness in England, with Oxford being no exception. I am so grateful to be able to study here, and Oxford is giving me so

the community. As we were starting our CAS

“

project at EF Academy, we agreed on this being the

we felt so passionate that we

issue that we wanted to engage with. I

formed a club at school

much, so I really wanted to give back and help out

contemplated different ways to help the homeless, for example selling bracelets and giving the funds earned to a homeless shelter. Eventually my friend and I decided that knitting hats and scarves would be the most helpful, as that is something they can use immediately. We made a timeline and tried to calculate how much time we would need, and how many hats and scarves we would be able to knit.

After we finished our

initial project in November,

called "Helping the homeless." In this club, we will be going around the city center once a month to hand out food and other goods to the homeless.

After that, we made a budget and started a fundraiser to collect money for yarn.

We shared the fundraiser with friends and family, and the support was much greater than we had anticipated. We managed to raise 450 GBP in total, which was way more than we were going to spend on knitting equipment. Therefore, we decided that the money not spent on knitting equipment would instead be spent on buying gift cards at the local grocery store that we would then hand out alongside the knitted sets. As word of our project spread around school, other teachers also wanted to engage with the project. They donated food and clothing to the project. This led to our project becoming much more successful. We really had great support from our school during the whole project.

What advice do you have for students who want to make a difference in the world?

Just start! Everything counts, even a small act of kindness can impact someone's life more than we can ever imagine. We definitely experienced that. The gratitude was greater than we could have ever imagined. Start small by helping your neighbors, or finding a volunteer center close to you and helping out together with your friends.

efacademy.org

Where fashion meets sustainability Linus from Hong Kong, EF Academy New York

My name is Linus and I studied at EF Academy New York. Since graduating EF Academy, I've obtained an undergraduate degree at The Queen Mary University London in International Relations. After that, I did an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London, and now I'm back at The Queen Mary University London doing an LLM in Environmental Law. I started my blog during the second year of my undergraduate degree, wanting to use the platform to promote brands and the idea of British craftmanship. Eventually, the nexus of fashion and sustainability became the dominant theme.

I have always been interested in fashion and sustainability, but the two interests didn't come together until a later time in my life. I was brought up with the awareness of the three R's: reduce, reuse, recycle, and the mentality that you should cherish what you have. The ultimate goal of the blog is to promote the awareness of consumer led sustainability.

Do you have a role model?

There isn't a particular person. I think it's more about who you want to be and what kind of impact you want to make on others. Then you become your own role model, not constrained by what people want to see in you, but rather who you want to present yourself as. I think that is helpful advice for all of us.

There are really simple things that consumers can do to shop more sustainably. Firstly, think about the cost-per-wear. For example, compare a well-made, slightly more expensive garment, to a piece that has a cheaper starting price, which you only wear three times and then throw away. In the long run, the more well-made piece will have been worn for five, ten years or even longer, and will therefore have a lower cost-per-wear. Another advice is to buy well-made vintage garments. You give them a second life, and you can think of them like cultural pieces that can be passed on. There is always a certain beauty to passing on things that have a story.

Another key thing you can do as a consumer is to be aware of which brands you buy from, if you approve of their ethos and business practices. You probably can’t stop fast fashion brands from popping up, but at least you’re making a conscious choice. I think that’s already making a positive change, don’t be too hard on yourself.

What advice do you have for students who want to make a difference?

I have three key pieces of advice.

Be curious. Curiosity has pushed me far and wide, I've pursued three degrees and I've met a lot of different interesting people.

Study what you are interested in.

Don’t be shy. Exchange ideas with people and learn from different perspectives, maybe from industry insiders, or just people who have different interests than you.

efacademy.org

Inspired by our students’ journeys?

Learn more about EF Academy Talk to our Enrollment Advisors Download our brochure