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During Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajig summer camp at the Lake Country Advanced Knowledge Center of Southside Virginia Community College (SVCC), Sophie Crowder had an idea to help combat the spread of COVID-19.

She used her technical knowledge to come up with the idea of the “Curie” box that would utilize an ultraviolet (UV) light to disinfect items placed inside the box.

Vincent Brown, associate professor at SVCC, who led the summer camp, assisted Crowder in bringing her idea to life by helping to assemble the first Curie box. 

“The innovative idea was all Sophie’s, and I was pleased to assist her in making her idea a reality,” Brown said.

Since the creation of the first box, Crowder has assembled many other Curie boxes and donated them to local law enforcement agencies, school systems, health care agencies and other frontline, essential organizations. 

Crowder was excited to donate one of the boxes to Dr. Quentin R. Johnson, president of Southside Virginia Community College.

Crowder’s creation has been on display in the lobby of the Center for Information Technology Excellence (CITE) in South Hill as an example of what innovative thinking, determination, hard work and technical knowledge can accomplish.