The stories of these 14 kids will warm your heart and renew your optimism about our bright future.

Prosperity is the direct result of successful dream and big idea pursuits.  If we get infected by the idealism of these kids in 2013, it’s hard to imagine the possibilities from our dreams and big ideas.

1. Belief in hard work for an unknown outcome
2. Belief that insurmountable obstacles shouldn’t deter a worthy mission
3. Belief that “don’t know how ” is not a valid excuse for not starting

Jack Andraka – a 15 year old boy perfected a new dipstick type diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer using a novel paper sensor (only 30 cents per test).  The test is 168 times faster and over 400 times more sensitive than the current diagnostic tests.

Marian Bectel – a 17 year old girl invented a low cost mine detecting device that is a prototype for a new type of mine sweeper that will save lives in places like Afghanistan.  It uses sound waves to determine where explosives are located.

Julia Bluhm – a 14 year old girl was able to deliver a Change.org petition, with 86,000 signatures, to Seventeen Magazine requesting them to show images of real girls.  Seventeen Magazine then announced a promise to “never change girls’ body or face shapes” when retouching images.

Adam Cudworth – a 19 year old spent 40 hours and nearly $600 to capture stunning photos of the earth’s curves at height of 110,200 feet (20.8 miles).  He used a balloon with a protective box with the digital camera and GPS tracking device.

Kelvin Doe - a 15 year old boy in Sierra Leone built batteries and generators to provide electricity for his family.  He also built a radio station with his FM radio, self-made mixer and amplifier. 

Tony Hansberry Jr.  – a 14 year old boy (now 18)  developed a new suture method for hysterectomy patients that has reduced patient’s hospital stays and improved the efficiency of  surgeries. 

Alexander Kendrick – a 16 year old boy (now 18) invented a low frequency radio to enable texting deep inside caves.  Alexander went (946 feet) deep to record the deepest known digital communication ever in the United States. 

Deepika Kurup – a 14-year old girl was named “America’s Top Young Scientist” for inventing a solar-powered water jug which changes dirty water into purified drinking water.

Janielle Tam – a 16 year old girl discovered that cellulose, a material found in trees that helps them stand up straight, is an antioxidant with potent anti-aging properties. Janielle hopes this will one day be added to wound dressing or cosmetic creams.

Nithin Tumma – a 17 year old boy measured activated protein levels in malignant breast cancer cells to discover how to suppress their growth. This will lead to new treatment therapies.

Victoria Walker – a 11 year old girl won a $20K award from AT&T to further develop a Mobile App called “Rode Dog” that discourages texting while driving.

Brittany Wegner – a 17 year old girl wrote an App that helps doctors diagnose breast cancer. Brittany designed a “neural network” to recognize complex patterns that is correctly identifies malignant tumors with 99% accuracy. 

Catherine Wong – a 17 year old girl invented an electrocardiogram that transmits real-time medical data through a cellphone using off-the-shelf electronic components to pick up the heart’s electrical signals.

Angela Zhang – a 17 year old girl created a way to personalized cancer medicine.  Zhang told ABC News, “I created a nanoparticle that’s kind of like the Swiss Army knife of cancer treatment in that it can detect cancer cells, eradicate the cancer cells and then monitor the treatment response.

Posted: Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013 @ 9:51 pm
Categories: Dreams & Ideas, Enablement.
Tags: Big Ideas, Dreams, Enablement, Enablement Skills.