Supriya Jolly Jindal – Signature

Louisiana’s Mary Poppins of math and science education is no stranger to getting her hands dirty.

In 1996, a big night out for Supriya Jolly, then a New Orleans resident, typically involved a hard hat, steel-toed boots, spreadsheets and case studies. The magna cum laude chemical engineer would spend the evening hours engrossed in economics, accounting and business ethics courses at Tulane University. Then she’d drive to St. Charles Parish, where she’d cheerfully climb into industrial tanks to check flow meters and valves during the night shift at Monsanto’s Luling plant.

Shortly after marrying the whiz kid at the helm of the state agency responsible for hospitals and public health—and accepting a job at Albemarle in Baton Rouge—the newly minted MBA completed coursework for a PhD in marketing from LSU.

Intellectual curiosity and exposure to varying viewpoints enticed Louisiana’s First Lady to advance her education. But she realizes teachers today need new tools to captivate young minds.

“Look at what our children are doing outside of the classroom—texting, video games, iPhone, iPods, Nintendo, Wii, DS,” says the mother of three young children. “All these things are very interactive, with a lot of animation, graphics, sights and sounds. (Yet), a lot of classrooms are (using) just chalkboards and chalk.”

By injecting a high-tech, high-energy catalyst into the education equation, the Supriya Jindal Foundation for Louisiana’s Children works to ignite passion for lifelong learning, proficiency in math and science and, consequently, the development of a highly educated workforce.

Since 2009, the nonprofit has installed $6,000 technology packages in nearly 200 elementary school classrooms across 44 parishes. The cornerstone of the program is an interactive whiteboard—a large, Internet-connected projection system that empowers teachers to create compelling multimedia lessons and receive instant feedback from students’ hand-held responders about whether they understand the material. Early research shows whiteboard classrooms enjoy a 17% to 29% gain in academic achievement.

“I want to put this technology in the hands of as many teachers as possible (in) private, charter, public, parochial—any schools, because every child is precious,” Jindal explains emphatically. “We want to build that strong foundation early, so children know they are smart enough to take on challenges—especially in the upper grades. We want our children to succeed and achieve their dreams.”