Girls for Clean Air

In June 2025, I had the pleasure of brainstorming a project with Dr. Paula Henry, a public health practitioner and family physician in Trinidad and Tobago. Dr. Henry, who is a director of EarthMedic and EarthNurse Foundation for Planetary Health, has been collaborating with the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education of Columbia University. As an advocate for improving the quality of air that we breathe, she took a keen interest in my work as an Open AQ Ambassador over the past year.

When the opportunity arose to collaborate on an air quality project with the Form 6 Geography and Environmental Science students of our alma mater, St. Joseph’s Convent Port of Spain (S.J.C P.O.S.), we recognized its alignment with the objectives of the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations in Environmental Science (CAPE) Environmental Science curriculum. This pilot initiative introduces students to low-cost air quality monitoring systems through a hands-on, interactive approach aimed at promoting environmental literacy and personal responsibility.

S.J.C. P.O.S. has readily embraced the project, providing its students with a unique opportunity to think outside the box,and explore air quality within an environment familiar to the students, allowing students to develop their own individual projects. The current Form 6 students, who are preparing for the CAPE in Environmental Science, will be the first cohort at the school to benefit from this initiative.

In the upcoming academic term four Open Air monitors will be strategically placed across different land use zones to allow for comparative analysis. Thanks to a generous donation from AirGradient, these four monitors will be provided for this pilot phase of the project, giving students a unique opportunity to engage in hands-on learning. Thus far they were able to install one Open Air monitor and built their first Open Air kit model to monitor live data. The precursor session at the end of the current academic term has set the tone for students to begin conceptualising their individual projects and how to use collected data to explore air quality issues in meaningful and innovative ways.

One of the Environmental Science teachers reflected on how, during her university years, such an initiative would have been out of reach due to the high cost of scientific monitoring equipment—highlighting just how transformative access to low-cost air quality monitors are for today’s students.

This pilot will serve as a scalable model that can be replicated in other secondary schools. Overall this project holds tremendous potential to build awareness, foster advocacy and support impactful student-led research in the Caribbean. At AirGradient, we are proud to support this pilot initiative and look forward to learning how the monitors contribute to both academic enrichment and the broader development of Environmental Science education at St. Joseph’s Convent Port of Spain and beyond.