10 Kids Who Made a Difference

When I taught middle school I told my students that they could make a difference in this world. What they achieved didn’t have to be earth shattering, just a spark of inspiration that would affect others. I said, “Just start with the belief that you can do something that benefits others.”

Below is the story of ten teens that really made a difference.

Louis Braille

Born in 1809, Louis lost his vision at the age of five. As a young teen he learned about “night writing,” a French military code of dots and dashes on thick paper. Soldiers on the battlefield could communicate without speaking or the need for light.

When Louis was 15 he trimmed the “night writing” system down to six-dot cells in an area no larger than a fingertip. By 1860 braille was adopted by the Missouri School for the Blind in St. Louis. Today the blind and other visually impaired people have a reading system that has opened the door of literacy to millions, thanks to Louis Braille.

Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg was born in 1984. By the time he was 19 he created a social media concept that would change the world. Launched in July 2003 by Mark and Harvard University roommate, Eduardo Saverin, their brainchild connected college students. Today Facebook keeps friends and family connected from around the world allowing them to share and express what matters to them.

Robert Heft

In 1959 the United States no longer had forty-eight states, but fifty after the admittance of Hawaii and Alaska. Robert Heft’s Ohio high school history teacher asked his students to design a flag to include the new states. Robert received a B- for his efforts. However, he sent his flag design to President Eisenhower who was impressed with the design and forwarded the plan to Congress. Congress loved the design and on July 4, 1960 made Robert Heft’s flag the official flag of the United States of America. Heft’s grade was later changed to an 

 

 

Mary Shelly

Born in 1797, Mary Shelly was only eighteen years old when she created a new genre of books, science fiction, with her novel Frankenstein.The book fuses gothic horror and modern technology and has been adapted for screen many times.

 

 

 

Frank Epperson

In 1905 eleven year old Frank left a glass with soda and a mixing stick on his porch over night. In the morning it was frozen giving birth to frozen confections we all love. Yum! Thank you Frank.

Chester Greenwood

At 15, the Farmington, Maine teen went ice skating with friends. As his ears burned cold from the icy weather, Chester had an idea: earmuffs. He patented his concept, and by the time of his death in 1937, 400,000 earmuffs were manufactured annually. 

Philo Farnsworth

By the time this teen was 15 he had outlined the basics of a television system beaming pictures through the air. Thirteen years later Philo showed his television set to the media, an invention that revolutionized communication and entertainment worldwide.

 

 

 

 

Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

Teenagers Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were science fiction buffs when they created Superman. Jerry was the franchise’s first scriptwriter and Joe its first artist. By June 1938 the “Man of Steel” was published in DC’s Action Comics, making DC Comics one of the major comic companies in the world. Though there have been other superheroes created over the years, only Superman is recognized as an American symbol as Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse.

Blaise Pascal

Nineteen-year-old Blaise Pascal invented the first functional calculator in 1642. His device, the Pascaline, could add and subtract integers using a wheel-based system. A child prodigy homeschooled by his father, Blaise went on to become a famous French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Catholic theologian.

Boyan Slat

Born in 1994 in the Netherlands, Boyan at the age of 16 thought of a way to clean up the Great Pacific garbage patch covering an area twice the size of Texas. It’s the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world located between Hawaii and California.The 1-2 kilometer pipes are capable of capturing plastic through a screen beneath them and was first deployed in 2018. The plastic from this garbage patch has a huge impact on marine ecosystems, human health, and national economies.

 

My kids would often say that there’s nothing else that needs inventing. I’d respond and say, “We need a cure for cancer, better hearing aids, or a way to curb global warming.” A little idea could blossom into Facebook, a reading system for the blind, and even a confection you can enjoy on a hot summer day. Get those ideas down and don’t let anyone ridicule your efforts.