THE NEW GENERATION OF PROBLEM SOLVERS.

These innovative teens are using their digital skills to make a difference. Get ready to be seriously inspired!

BUSTING FEMALE STEREOTYPES

KIARA BROUN, 16, LEESBURG,VIRGINIA

Kiara Brown still remembers that day in middle school when her class did a reading of a classic princess fairytale. She was disappointed that the star of the story seemed so frail and weak. Wasn't the tale a bit, well, sexist? Fast-forward to a few years later, where Kiara was still wishing for a princess story with a more independent and confident heroine. "It was time for a change," she says. She decided to write, illustrate, and publish her own picture book for kids called Princess Pretend and The Not Knight.

When Kiara started typing, the words flowed, but she felt less secure about her digital design and illustration skills. So she taught herself how to use a series of online design programs to draw pictures and create page layouts. The learning curve was steep, but the process was super satisfying. "I redid each of the 80 illustrations about four times until I got the results I was looking for," she says. Kiara also used a free website builder with simple templates to create the initial site for her burgeoning publishing company.

In Kiara's story, the princess learns she doesn't need to stick to other people's ideas about how she should act-and can rely on her smarts to conquer a challenge. The book also features a female knight who puts on a tough face, but deep down wants sparkly glitter on her helmet. Kiara self-published her feminist fairy tale last year, and has visited classrooms to read the book to over a thousand students (see photo). "I'm so glad I can give kids this alternative to old fairy-tale stereotypes," she says.

HELPING THE HUNGRY

JONATHAN DANIEL, 17, LXTHONXA,GEORGIA

Jonathan Daniel learned to love computers as a curious 7-year-old, when he tinkered with and repaired technology at home with his dad. So last year, when he had to use paper inventory forms in the food pantry where he volunteers, he knew there must be an easier digital solution. "I couldn't find an app to easily tally the items we had, so I started sketching ideas," he says. Jonathan had developed apps in the high school robotics league he competes in, but didn't have much experience writing the type of code that could collect data and keep track of what was on the shelves of the food pantry.

He turned to free online spreadsheets as a model for organizing his data, then frequently...