These 40 Incredible Kids Have Forever Changed Our World

When it comes to making this world a better place, we can learn a thing or two from our children. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of some of the most influential young trailblazers across the world, whose talents include advocating against climate change and fighting for the right to education, to name a few. From activists to investors – this list includes just a handful of the young change-makers that have paved the way for many generations to come. If these inspiring stories don’t get you moving, we don’t know what will!

Melati and Isabel Wijsen were only 10 and 12, respectively, when they started on a course of activism that has drastically decreased the global usage of single-use plastic. The young women were inspired by the country of Rwanda's ban of polyethylene bags in 2008, and decided to try to get their native Bali to do the same. Their homegrown initiative of beach cleanups and government petitions graduated to an organizations advocating for reduced plastic use in 15 different countries. Bali is officially plastic bag free, and Indonesia will be by 2021, with the Wijsen to thank.

One of Sierra Leone's most famous inventors got started when he began looking for ways to fix local problems with technology as an 11-year-old, just five years after the country's volatile civil war ended. By 13, he was powering neighborhood houses with batteries made out of acid, soda and metal in a tin cup. He went on to build a community radio station out of recycled parts that he powered with a generator also made out of reused material. David Sengeh, a PhD student at the MIT media lab and Kelvin's mentor, said: "In Sierra Leone, other young people suddenly feel they can be like Kelvin."

Marley is the activist behind the #1000BlackGirlBooks twitter phenomenon. The hashtag was born out of the avid reader's frustration that she couldn't find any stories where the main characters looked like her. The book drive resulted in more than 11,000 books catalogued with black female protagonists, and counting. Marley also wrote the book Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You as a guide to positive change through activism.

You've probably heard of this environmental activist after her passionate speech at the UN Climate Summit, but this 16-year-old student has been advocating for sustainability for years now. Greta began by protesting Swedish parliament in an effort to get them to do more to prevent climate change. She went on to organize Fridays for Future, a school climate strike movement. As of 2019, more than one million students around the world participated in a multi-city coordinated protest for stronger action against climate change.

After surviving a school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, a group of a teen activists formed to fight for an end of gun violence. Emma González was one of those students, in addition to David Hogg, Alex Wind, Jaclyn Corin, Cameron Kasky, and many others. She co-founded Never Again MSD, a group for gun control, and gave a moving speech at the March for Lives Rally in which she read the names of her classmates who died in the shooting. After the work of Emma and her fellow activists, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act was passed by Florida lawmakers in March 2018.

When Nicolas was a tween, he met a brother and sister experiencing homelessness. The pair took turns going to school because they shared a pair of shoes. Nicolas gave the boy a pair of basketball sneakers, and thus kicked off an organization that would come to be known as Gotta Have Sole, through which footwear has been donated to over 99,000 children in homeless shelters.

After being diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome, Asperger's and OCD, Jaylen was bullied by peers for being different. He found that the anxiety he suffered as result of the bullying worsened the symptoms of his disabilities. That's what led Jaylen to found the Jaylen Challenge Foundation, which has educated more than 100,000 kids on recognizing bullying behavior and understanding each others differences.

After 9-year-old Jahkil helped his aunt distribute food at a local homeless shelter in his native Chicago, Jahkil decided he wanted to do more to help his community. This is how Project Am I was founded. Here, Jakhil distributes "Blessing Bags" full of snacks, toiletries, a towel, and socks to people experiencing homelessness. Over 3,000 Blessing Bags have been given out in Chicago communities.

At 17, Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel Prize laureate for her humanitarian efforts. She captured the world's attention after being shot by the Taliban in Pakistan on her way to school because she was an advocate for women pursuing education. She is currently working towards her bachelor's degree at Oxford's Lady Margaret Hall while continuing her charity work through her organization, The Malala Fund.

When Ryan Hickman was 3, he took a visit to the rePlanet recycling center in California. Here, he found his calling. At 7, Ryan started Ryan’s Recycling. What started out as collecting cans and bottles from his neighbors as recycling has risen to over 50 customers and over 200,000 bottles and cans."It's because bottles get to the ocean and then animals get sick and die," he told CNN.

Zuriel is an education advocate for girls in Africa and filmmaker (self-taught no less!) She has interviewed 30 heads of state, created 7 documentaries, and continues to advocate for young women, all by the ripe old age of 17.

Cruz made a name for herself at five years old when she visited Washington D.C. with her family. As representatives of an L.A.-based immigration advocacy group, they were there to deliver a letter to Pope Francis urging him to speak out on behalf of undocumented workers and support the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans Act. The Pope discussed the issue in a meeting with Congress the following day. Cruz's activism earned her an invitation to meet President Obama in 2016 even though her parents couldn't accompany her because of their undocumented status. She took part in the Women's March in D.C. where, as the featured speaker, she spoke in both Spanish and English saying, "We are here together making a chain of love to protect our families. Let us fight with love, faith and courage so that our families will not be destroyed."

Further proof that the words of a child can make a huge impact, Smith was only 10 when she eased Cold War tensions between the United States and Russia with a single letter. She wrote a note to CPSU General Secretary Yuri Andropov suggesting that both countries could co-exist peacefully, which ended up getting published in a Soviet newspaper. Andropov responded with an invitation for Smith and her family to visit his country. This experience earned her the role of "America's Youngest Ambassador," and she later brought her message of peace to Japan. She also pursued a television career as an actress and as a special correspondent for the Disney Channel covering the 1984 presidential election. Following her untimely death at 13 in a plane crash, her achievements were celebrated in her Maine hometown and in Russia where a monument was built in her honor.

Masih was Pakistani boy who escaped child slavery at 10 years old and became a leader in the movement to put an end to it once and for all. He helped over 3,000 children escape bondage and traveled the globe speaking out against the issue. Masih was assassinated when he was 12 and roughly 800 people attended his funeral service. However, his legacy lives on well beyond his death. In 2009, Congress started an annual award in his name given to activists fighting to end child labor.

Colvin was 15 when she became a major player in the Civil Rights Movement by refusing to give up her bus seat to a caucasian rider. This was nine months before Rosa Parks was arrested for the same thing. She was one of the four plaintiffs involved in the Supreme Court case that ultimately outlawed segregation on Alabama buses. Colvin has said about her experience, "I feel very, very proud of what I did. I do feel like what I did was a spark and it caught on."

At five years old, Jennings made headlines as one of the youngest publicly documented people to identify as transgender. She has used her platform to advocate for LGBTQIA issues, specifically regarding trans rights. With the assistance of her parents, she founded the TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation to help transgender youth. Jennings also wrote a children's book and a memoir about her experience in addition to starring in a TLC reality show documenting her journey. She has been honored by GLAAD, Out magazine, Advocate, Logo TV, and the Human Rights Campaign.

Young people using social media may not seem life-changing, but one look at Abed's Twitter page will change your mind. At just seven years old, she documented her life in war-torn Syria to call attention to the atrocities happening there. With some assistance from her mother, Abed has called upon world leaders to take action.

At 12 years old, Khatun was a victim of child trafficking until she was rescued by Save the Children. She returned to West Bengal and committed her life to putting an end to the exploitation and trafficking of children. Anoyara has rescued hundreds of children through her efforts and prevented many others from being forced into marriage.

Johnson put a face to the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa in the 1990s. Born HIV-positive, he gained public attention when he was refused admittance to a public school in Johannesburg because of the disease. He shared his story when he was invited to be the keynote speaker at the 13th International AIDS Conference in 2000 when he was 11 years old. Johnson lost his battle the following year but not before working with his foster mother to create Nkosi's Haven, a refuge for HIV positive mothers and their children. He was posthumously awarded the International Children's Peace Prize in 2005.

Chama received the 2007 International Children's Peace Prize when she was 16 for her work as an educational rights activist in Zambia. She has also been a crusader for the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Martinez is an environmental activist who spoke at the U.N. three times by the age of 15 urging leaders to take action against climate change. He and 21 other people around his age are the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the federal government arguing that ignoring climate change means they are denying the constitutional right to life, liberty, and property. Martinez has even turned his message into music with a hip-hop song called "Speak for the Trees," which was chosen as the theme song for the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Copeny, a.k.a. Little Miss Flint, captured President Obama's attention in 2016 after she wrote him a letter urging him to meet with her and her community members who were traveling to Washington D.C. for the congressional meetings on the Flint water crisis. She continues to fight for the people of her hometown in any way that she can, including crowdfunding for donations to buy backpacks for students in Flint. Mari is also a youth ambassador for the Women's March, the Climate March, and Equality for Her.

The teenage diarist died in 1945, but the words she put down in her notebook while her family was in hiding during World War II have proven to be timeless. It's a literary reminder of the horrors of war and hate through the eyes of a young girl. Anne's diary has been translated into more than 60 languages since its original publication in 1947.

Scott was less than a year old when she was diagnosed with cancer and spent her first few years of life fighting against the odds. After receiving a stem cell transplant around her fourth birthday, she vowed to start a lemonade stand to raise money for other children going through the same thing. With the help of her brother, the first stand raised $2,000. The lemonade stand to support cancer research became an annual event for her family and Alex raised over $1 million before losing her own battle in 2004 at eight years old. Her family continues to carry on her legacy through Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation and has raised over $150 million to date in the hopes of finding a cure.

Ulmer is another example of how a little lemonade can change the world. After learning about how much bees do for the environment and how they're dying out, four-year-old Ulmer decided to take action by joining a local children's business competition. Her product was a family lemonade recipe sweetened with locally-made honey with a portion of the sales going to organizations fighting to save the honeybee population. She sells her lemonade at public events and has a partnership with Whole Foods.

Makosinski was 15 when she invented a flashlight powered by body heat for the Google Science Fair in 2013. In doing so, she found a way to reduce waste (single-use batteries getting dumped in landfills) and provide light to people who can't afford electricity in their homes. She also invented the eDrink, which cools your hot beverage by turning the excess heat into electricity that can charge your devices. Her inventions have gotten her worldwide recognition including an appearance on the "Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" and several brand partnerships.

Stagliano was in third grade when she came up with her plan to help feed the homeless after growing a 40 pound cabbage in her yard. That single crop fed 275 people at her local soup kitchen. It also inspired her non-profit, Katie's Krops, which builds vegetable gardens for the sole purpose of donating the food to the homeless. Now, there are more than 100 gardens in over 30 states being operated by young people like Katie.

Lin's plan to save the world took shape when she was in fifth grade after learning that cooking oil could be turned into biofuel. She started small by convincing local restaurants in her community to donate their cooking oil waste to be recycled. As she expanded the program to other areas near her home, her Project TGIF (Turn Grease Into Fuel) was officially off the ground. Her work has earned her several environmental awards.

Fourteen-year-old LaChappelle built a prototype for a robotic hand out of Legos and fishing wire in 2011, which earned him third place at the Colorado State Science Fair. As fate would have it, he met a seven-year-old girl at the science fair who had a prosthetic arm that cost $80,000. It was then that Easton's mission became clear — to build a more affordable alternative. Now he runs a startup that uses 3D printing to build prosthetic arms and hands, bringing the price down to just $350 to produce. He also made the design accessible to download by anyone at no cost.

Self-proclaimed Super Business Girl, Newson, who has a successful candle business, encourages kids in her Detroit community to become entrepreneurial, too. She has several young employees and hopes to bring in mentees so she can help them hone their business skills. Her accomplishments have caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres and Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, who offered her some of his own business advice.

At 16, during a fishing trip in Greece, Slat discovered massive amounts of plastic in the water. Two years later, the dutch inventor launched his non-profit, Ocean Cleanup, to research using circulating currents to address the pollution issue. The group has raised over $31.5 million in donations to help achieve Boyan's goal.

Rao was awarded $25,000 at 11 years old for inventing a device that can detect lead in drinking water. She was motivated by the Flint, Michigan water crisis and built her prototype (called Tethys) for a little more than $20. Rao believes that her invention is more accurate than current test options and would also be the more affordable option. The invention earned her the title of "America's Top Young Scientist."

Hreljac has been working to make clean water accessible to people in poor areas since he was six and first learned about the issue. He began by doing chores to earn money to send to organizations building wells in poor countries before starting Ryan's Well Foundation when he was 10. The charity has brought drinkable water to over 800,000 people in 16 countries. Ryan's Well Foundation also partners with schools to educate children about the situation.

Gupta was inspired to collect eyeglasses for children in need at 14 years old after breaking his own corrective lenses and having to wait a week for a replacement pair. He read a statistic that 12 million children around the world are living without the glasses they need to see clearly, which prompted him to launch his Sight Learning organization. The group collects used glasses and delivers them to children who need them. They have given out over $1.5 million worth of eyewear in places like Mexico, Honduras, Haiti, and India.

As a high school student, Andraka made a major contribution to the health community by inventing a type of sensor that could detect early signs of pancreatic and other forms of cancer. The prototype won him a $75,000 prize in Intel's science fair. He's been called "The Teen Prodigy Of Pancreatic Cancer" by the Smithsonian.

Henry turned her love of sewing into a worthwhile cause. At 12 years old, she was focused on raising money to fund the education for an underprivileged girl and concocted a plan to use headbands to do it. She started making and selling reversible headbands, donating every cent to her cause. The project blossomed into her Reverse The Course charity which has sold over 11,000 hair accessories to help more than100 young girls in Kenya, Uganda, Paraguay and Haiti.

Penn is a young entrepreneur who is creating jobs and saving the environment. She was only eight years old when she launched her eco-friendly fashion house, Maya's Ideas. Her dedication prompted her to start her non-profit called Maya's Ideas 4 The Planet. She has also given several TEDTalks that have gone viral.

Braille was only 12 when he learned of a communication system used by the French army, which laid the groundwork for his own system of reading and writing used by the blind. He completed his alphabet of raised dots by the time he was 15. It was first adapted by France's Royal Institute for Blind Youth until two years after his death at the age of 43. It has since spread throughout the world and is still in use today.

One of the men credited with inventing television was only 14 when he came up with the idea. He had an epiphany while plowing his family's farm in Idaho and sought advice from one of his teachers on how best to make his blackboard sketches a reality. Farnsworth transmitted his first image in 1927 when he was 21 years old.

Bluhm is on a quest to promote body positivity one magazine cover at a time. At 14, she successfully convinced the editor-in-chief of Seventeen to feature images of real girls and healthy models without Photoshopping. She continues to address feminist issues as a blogger for TheLaLa.com and for Spark Movement.