Chegg.org an organization that helps students achieve their best, in school and beyond have honored Jeremiah Thoronka a 21 years old Sierra Leonean student as the winner of its 2021 Inaugural Global Student Award. The tech savvy maestro was nominated for the first Global Student Prize amongst 3,500 other nominees from 94 countries across the globe in which the salone born Jeremiah emerged as the champion. The award comes with a whopping 100,000 US Dollars, that is estimated to be around one Billion Leones in prize money.
The exceptional Thoronka invented a device that uses kinetic energy from traffic and pedestrians to generate clean power. The award winners have joined the many other Sierra Leonean inventors like David Sengeh, Kelvin Doe,Emmanuel Alie Mansaray, who has built the first solar powered car in Africa and now Jeremiah Thoronka.
Many Sierra Leoneans have expressed their delight over the success of the dynamic young man by sending congratulatory messages on various Media platforms one of which is the president, Julius Maada Bio.
“I am delighted to congratulate Jeremiah Thoronka, a Sierra Leonean, for winning the 2021 Global Student Prize,” the president stated in a video which was shared on the country’s State House Facebook page.
The Minister of Basic and Senior Education Moinina David Sengeh explained this on his Facebook page,
“Public education on Public Education: Sierra Leonean youth wins first ever Global Student Prize (and he’s one of my Protégés)
They say success has many fathers… true, but we also know that it takes a village to educate a child. So let all the parents and the village of Jeremiah (let all Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Africa stand up and celebrate our success: Chegg.org Global Student Prize Winner- Jeremiah Thoronka). It felt extra wonderful sitting in UNESCO Hall to hear the news as the Minister of Education.
I’ll pick up from where President Bio ended in his special congratulatory message to the winner, “Congratulations, Jeremiah.”
Firstly, I’ve known Jeremiah for about 6 years. In that period, he participated in several GlobalMinimum http://www.gmin.org Innovate Salone programs and won a few. He was part of Sierra Leone’s robotic competition team and became an ardent volunteer supporting youth Innovation in Sierra Leone and Rwanda. As a co-founder of GMin, I am quite ecstatic. The organization is on track: GMin’s Vision (a generation of youth that imagines and realizes solutions for a better planet) and Mission (to catalyse a culture of innovation through hands-on learning experiences, creative problem-solving, and leadership skills among youth). We have graduates from Harvard, entrepreneurs and community leaders from among our alums. This was our dream.
Secondly, there are some youth among those hundreds that I have interacted with across the continent who get extra time. Jeremiah is one of those. I pulled up a recommendation letter I wrote for him back in 2018 and it speaks volumes of what I expected of him. Back then, I said; “Jeremiah is an exceptional young man who is bound to continue thriving wherever he finds himself. He is driven by a desire to learn, create and change lives for the better. What separates Jeremiah from his peers is his determination and ability to problem-solve.” I did let Jeremiah see the recommendation letter because I knew it’ll inspire him more. One of my mentors showed me a recommendation he wrote for me and it changed my life in how I saw or imagined myself.
In 2016, Jeremiah sent me an email: “Am a member of May Park scientists, the group Brian belongs to. You have been a mentor to me for a while now, and working on my own personality to be like you or even become great. Keep the Good work sir”. I received the email at 1:23 am.
At 1:48 am on the same day, I replied: “Thanks and good luck with your work. Keep working hard.” Jeremiah didn’t stop working hard.
I engage young people online, offline and everywhere because I know we can shape and guide their future. It’s such a privilege to have been part of a vision that started investing in youth problem- solving in Sierra Leone some 10 years ago and what a thrill that I can now serve as Minister pushing these same policies. When I speak of the 5Cs: computational thinking, comprehension, creativity, critical thinking and Civics, I am reminded of where we’ve come from and the future ahead. It’s our young people, our students who will transform our society. Thank you Jeremiah and continue to do your best so you can surpass all of us.
Ps- when President Bio visited Kigali a few years ago, he spent time with the Sierra Leonean students there and Jeremiah was one of them. I remember he was very excited and told me how inspired he was.
Pps: we wrote his recommendation to ALU as well… like several students and fellows who’ve gone through our programs.
Ppps: as a fellow Kingtom student, shout out to the May Park Boys.”
Explaining how he reached to the final of this years awards Mr Thoronka gave a vivid explanation about the process
“Few weeks ago, I was informed that I was nominated for the inaugural Global Student Prize organised by Chegg. For context, the Global Student Prize is a US$100,000 award that will be presented to an exceptional student, making a real impact on learning, the lives of their peers and on society beyond. I made the top 50 over a few weeks ago, and on the 13/10/2021 I made the final top 10.
Making this final top 10 of the very best students on the globe with friends is priceless. A huge congratulations to the other two Africans who made the final top 10 – congratulations Amisa Rashid Kiligah from Kenya, a close friend and fellow Wells Mountain Initiative Scholar Oluwadamilola Akintewe from Nigeria, and a friend from South America Ana Júlia Monteiro de Carvalho – you ladies rock.
Thanks to the institution(s) or individual(s) that nominated me. Thank you Durham University, ALU, Renewable Technology Training Institute – RETTI and many more educational institutions that I have gone though or currently work with
To my Teachers, Lecturers, Cohort mates, Friends, Peer Mentors, and Mentors this is a testament and the result of your continued efforts in empowering a young visionary.”
I am very excited to see how far God will take me carrying the Sierra Leone flag in this awards. Looking forward to the awards ceremony,” the winner stated.
It’s clear that the narrative about Sierra Leone is currently changing from the negative perception to positive one.
About the Author
