This is actually a very beautiful story. A young black male creates a new soap that has him basically the smartest kid in the world. This is a scientist, put him up full mass. [00:00:15] Heman Bakele, and I love the fact his first name is spelled Heman. A black Virginian teen has recently been recognized as one of the smartest people in the nation, [00:00:33] developing a soap that helps treat skin cancer, a 9th grader. The teen scientific discovery has won him a five figure cash prize and the title of America's Top Young Scientist, so amazing. [00:00:50] So let me give you some background. The 14-year old student at WT Woodson High School in Annadale, Virginia, has been named the winner of the prestigious 2023 3M Young Scientist Challenge presented by 3M and [00:01:05] Discovery Education at the company's global headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, October 9th and 10th were the date. So this 14-year old outshined nine other finalists over a four-month competition period. [00:01:24] His submission, a groundbreaking compound-based Skin Cancer Treating Soap, SCTS, blew the judges away and secured him the grand prize. As the winner, he walked away with a champions title and [00:01:41] $25,000 in the pocket. All of the young people were paired with 3M scientists before being charged to navigate a series of interactive challenges. Over that time, the nine students were rigorously evaluated based on their [00:01:57] ingenuity, application of STEM principles, passion for research, presentation skills, and their ability to inspire. He also started to delve deeply into the research about skin cancer and then dendritic cells that informed his submission video. [00:02:14] His mentor, Deborah Isabelle from 3M's Automotive Aftermarket Division, and she helped him bring his idea to reality. That's called mentorship. His student's melanoma-treating soap will be cost-effective. [00:02:33] Each bar can be manufactured and sold for $0.50. The youngest, or the young scientists wanted the innovative treatment to be an accessible and affordable alternative to conventional methods of skin cancer [00:02:49] treatment, and that is only the start. Skin cancer is the most common in people living in developing countries, so now we have international application. However, the average price of an operation is $40,000. [00:03:05] So Heman told Fairfax County Public Schools, according to WION News, leading him to speak about how people who lack money are victims. Quote, there are so many preventable deaths, he said. [00:03:21] Looking ahead to the next five years, he intends to establish a nonprofit organization dedicated to making the medicinal cleansing compound readily available to those who require it the most at a low cost. In the next 15 years, he hopes to become an electrical engineer. [00:03:37] Put his picture. You see, this is the future of our world. While old decrepit, political pundits and their cronies who call themselves public official [00:03:56] wax poetic about capitalism, making more money, getting an increase to the bottom line, there's an emerging class of leadership from [00:04:12] my youth population who says, you all got it wrong. You all got it wrong. People are more important than money. I congratulate, salute this young man, his family, [00:04:28] the mentors that he has around him. Very proud of him, very thankful for his leadership. He is my future, he is your future. All right, Yasmin thoughts here. >> Speaker 2: Yeah, I love this. My fiance is white, and he's always outside in the garden. And I'm always like, can you please just wear your sunblock? [00:04:45] I'm always just preaching to him to put on some sunblock. But these are my favorite kinds of stories, I love this. I love to see young people thriving. And I love that this kid was in an environment that was supportive enough that he was allowed to thrive in such a way. So much of education is about the teachers and [00:05:02] about the resources that are available to those students. There's so much potential in these kids, and I will always support efforts to bring that out of them. I think people that seek to stifle young ingenuity and people who try to defund education and things like that are a special kind of evil. [00:05:20] But things like this make me feel a lot better. >> Speaker 1: There you go. The scripture says, and a child should lead them.