I’m often asked, what is it about our generation that are changing the world? I have met so many amazing young changemakers along my journey through my blog and public speaking. I have learned so much from these youth because they have built schools, donated non-perishable items for food banks, gone silent to be someone else’s voice, have raised pennies for clean water and so much more! I love meeting them because I get to learn about their fundraising stories and I also get tips for campaigns in my community, too.
There are definitely though some really amazing kids that have made some really cool inventions. They are remarkable youth who have made inventions that have changed the world and made people’s lives better.
Ann Makosinski
You may not heard of Ann Makosinski because a lot of people refer to her as “the flashlight girl.” She made the first flashlight that is body-heat powered. This means that the flashlight is turned on by the human body’s heat. So great! This useful invention came to be because Ann was emailing with her friend from the Philippines. The friend said that she was failing her grade because there was no light to study with, and it was very hard for her to focus. Ann realized that others might be in the same situation as a lot of people don’t have electricity. She came up with the idea of making a flashlight powered by the human hand after doing her own research on things we don’t usually think about – how many watts the human body can produce, how many watts the flashlight took, and then she had to find the specific amount of watts. But she did it after many hard hours of working at it.
Ann has been very successful with her invention, she won the Google Science Fair, the Weston Youth Innovation awards, did a Ted Talk , and also spoke at Harvard University.
Andrew Pelham
A big issue in the summer for younger children and dogs is sometimes forgetful parents or owners leaving them in the hot car – they can be injured or they can even die. In 2013, 44 children in just the US died because they were left in the hot car. But this summer, a 12-year-old boy named Andrew Pelham created a solution.
Andrew decided to take action and do something about it. He created the E-Z Baby Saver (or Dog Saver) to let forgetful parents know that their child or pet is in the car and needs to be let out. The great thing about this is that it’s homemade, all you need is rubber bands and duct tape! So easy as these are all items that can be found in any household. Because of this amazing invention, Andrew won national runner-up in the Rubber Band contest for Young Inventors! This got the attention of Japan, Australia and more countries wanting to learn more about E-Z Baby Saver.
Andrew says that “Winning the Rubber Band Contest showed me that even a kid can have good ideas.”
Alex Deans
12-year-old Alex Deans was walking around his neighbourhood and saw that a blind woman needed help crossing the street. After he helped her, he realized that there was no device that could give visually impaired people the confidence and independence to walk around their own area. Alex was then determined to make an invention to help guide the blind and making them more comfortable with their environment.
He then taught himself how to program, he created the iAid, a hand held navigation for the visually-impaired. Using GPS and a compass, it can detect any obstacles and lead blind people in the right direction. Alex contacted a home for the blind and asked them if some people could test it out. 31 people tried the iAid, who loved the fact it helped them navigate when they were in potential danger. It changed their lives because it gave the people who are using iAid control and confidence.
Because of Alex’s hard work, he won many awards such as the Grand Platinum Award for Intermediate Students across Canada, the Innovation Challenge, was featured in Maclean’s Magazine as one of “Canada’s Future Leaders Under 25” and he is also a member of the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee. He says, “Together, youth can make a difference. With new, innovative ideas we have the potential to truly change the world we live in.”
These are all REALLY amazing inventors and changemakers. But there are so many more young inventors that we need to celebrate! Join me in Kid Inventors’ Day (KID), to not only acknowledge so many awesome youth, but to also encourage the creativity of other kids to become future inventors. It happens on January 17th, the birth anniversary of Benjamin Franklin, who invented the first swim flippers almost 300 years ago at age 12.
These three kids are making a huge difference and I cannot wait to see what our generation will do next!
great makes me feel like i can do something