CNN 5 Things｜Googly-Eyed Train, Breakdance Olympics

Krista Bo
Hey there. I'm Krista Bo – here to tell you about the good stuff happening around the world. You'll hear from some Bostonians who campaign to make their subway commute a little more entertaining.

John Sanchez
Bring some joy into our lives. Give the green line googly eyes.

Krista Bo
Plus, did you hear NASA sent Missy Elliott to space? Well, kind of. From CNN, this is 5 Good Things.

Books have the power to change lives. And that was the case for Payton McGriff. She read the book Half the Sky in college.

Payton McGriff
The book talks about the plight of women and girls around the world. Talks about how there are more than 130 million girls not in school today, and so that completely open my worldview is someone from Idaho, that there is just such a vastly different experience for women around the world.

Krista Bo
And one of the many barriers that prevent girls from going to school is a uniform. That's why she turned a project in college into a nonprofit called Style Her Empowered – or SHE for short. They help 1,500 girls a year in the western African country of Togo.

Payton McGriff
So today, when a girl enters our program, she not only receives a new school uniform, but she receives a full tuition scholarship, full year of school supplies, a reusable menstrual kit, and a year round tutoring from our local staff.

Krista Bo
And Payton's work has earned her recognition as a 2024 CNN Hero.

Payton McGriff
Last year, 99.1% of our students passed their classes and national exams, which are pretty notoriously difficult in Togo.

Krista Bo
Payton developed the idea for her nonprofit while she was doing some field research in Togo. During the spring of her senior year at the University of Idaho, and she met a young woman named Elolo, whose family faced financial challenges, forcing her to drop out of school while her brothers stayed in class.

She's saying that made her sad because her intention was to go to school and become a successful person. 2017 was SHE's first year. And the team hired a local seamstress to make the uniforms, but they soon realized the students were quickly outgrowing them. So, they designed their own.

Payton McGriff
So that was where the uniform that Rose was born. We created a dress. It grows six sizes and up to 12in in length, and adjusts in various parts of the body to provide a well tailored fit.

Krista Bo
Elolo has not only graduated from high school, she became the group's assistant director and has recruited hundreds of girls.

Payton McGriff
I think Elolo is just the epitome of when you educate a girl, you educate a community, and she is a role model for every girl in our program who can see themselves in her. It's so girl power. It's so fun.

Krista Bo
To learn more about SHE's work had to cnn.com/heroes. The link is also in our show notes.

When Arielle Lok moved to Boston, she noticed the subway system there, which locals call the T, was missing something. The trains didn't have any whimsy, so Arielle and her friend John Sanchez had an idea.

Arielle Lok
I remember just being on the T platform with John, and I was just like, 'what if we just put, like, eyes on them?'

Krista Bo
By eyes, she means googly eyes on the front of some trains, like giant versions of those silly wiggly eyes you can buy at a craft store. To make their vision a reality, Arielle and John launched a full on campaign. They wrote to transit officials and hung posters at t stops. They even organized a march to the headquarters of Boston's transit authority, the MBTA, complete with signs and coordinated chants.

John Sanchez
Bring some joy into our lives. Give the green line googly eyes! Dot your I's and cross your T's – googly eyes on T trains, please.

Krista Bo
'All in all, it was a successful march, but Arielle said they didn't hear any updates on their googly-eyed demands for a couple months. Then one day, out of nowhere.

Arielle Lok
We got an email being like, 'yo, we put them on.' Five of the trains have googly eyes and me and John were shook.

Krista Bo
'Arielle and John said they hope the googly-eyed trains will make t riders smile, and maybe feel a little less annoyed when their commute is delayed.

John Sanchez
It sort of gives you empathy for the train, like it didn't want to pull up to the station late. It's your friend.

Arielle Lok
We're big believers that the eyes are the window to the soul, and that the soul of a city is its transit system.

Krista Bo
When I think of the Summer Olympics, my mind immediately goes to gymnastics or swimming. But for the first time ever, we're going to see breakdancing as an Olympic sport, and Sunny Choi will be popping and locking for the US in August.

Sunny Choi
I always wanted to be an Olympian. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I'd be Olympian breaking.

Krista Bo
Sunny started breaking in college and says the sport has really helped her find herself.

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