Black Positive People : Black Youth Among The World’s 50 Smartest Teenagers

[IFE]

Kelvin Doe, 16, Sierra Leone


When engineering wunderkind, Kelvin Doe, was just 11 years old, he started scouring trash containers and collecting scraps of metal and electronic parts. Eventually he gathered enough pieces to create mini generators. Totally self-taught, he fashioned together an amp, a mixer, and enough auxiliary equipment to launch a one-person radio station.

He broadcasts news and music to the residents of his childhood neighborhood in Freetown, Sierra Leone. His listeners know him as DJ Focus.

Fast Company magazine named Kelvin one of their “100 Most Creative People in Business 2013,” a remarkable tribute when you realize that Kelvin is the youngest among the 100 honorees.

“I am naturally curious,” Kelvin humbly states.

His curiosity takes him places. In fact, his first trip from his native Sierra Leone took him to MIT, where he worked on engineering projects last summer. Kelvin is the youngest person in history invited to MIT’s “Visiting Practitioner’s Program.” He was also a speaker at the 2013 TEDxTeen, and he has amazed thousands of YouTube viewers who have seen the short documentary about his inventions.

Kelvin has a clear mission: He wants to build a windmill to provide power for his Freetown neighbors, and he want to become a scientist to improve life for the citizens of Sierra Leone. “I love my country,” he says. “I love my people.”

 

[IFE]

Adam Holland, 17, Washington, DC, USA



In 2008, Adam Holland, together with his younger brother Jonathan, brainstormed moneymaking ideas which could help pay for their little sister’s tuition at a private school. He decided to launch a business they both would enjoy. After some informal market research, Adam founded AJ’s Hawaiian Iceez, a shaved ice dessert company.

An initial investment of $2000 from his parents allowed Adam to purchase a tent with three tables and basic supplies. Since then, Adam has significantly grown the business. Today he and his siblings travel with a mobile trailer which can quickly move from venue to venue — county fairs, arts festivals, music jams, and other events where people are gathered in hot weather. They set up at ~40 to 50 events a year.

AJ’s Hawaiian Iceez sells authentic Hawaiian shaved ice as an alternative to snow cones, ice cream, and other frozen desserts. Meticulous attention must be given to the production of the shaved ice — which has the consistency of snow — to allow the flavorings to be dispersed evenly throughout it. The business has yielded more than $100,000 over the past four summers.

Adam cites important factors for his success such as being customer focused and sustaining good relationships with the event coordinators where he sells his ices.

Besides ensuring his sister Zoe gets a good education, Adam is also committed to giving back to the community. He donates up to 60% of certain event sales to local schools and non-profits.

In 2011, Adam and Jonathan were named among Black Enterprisemagazine’s Young Entrepreneurs of the Year. That summer, Adam spoke on entrepreneurship at Morgan State University.

In 2012, Ernst & Young and Junior Achievement of Greater Washington named Adam “the Greater Washington Youth Entrepreneur of the Year.” When receiving the award, Adam remarked: “My generation is destined to do great things. To my younger colleagues, be receptive, be creative, and be the change you want to see. To my elders, invest in young people. We are your future.”

A rising senior at the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland, Adam is hoping to get accepted into Harvard.

 

[IFE]

Saheela Ibraheem, 16, New Jersey, USA


At just 15 years old, Saheela Ibraheem was accepted into Harvard University, which makes her among the youngest students ever to attend that school. But that’s not the most impressive part, Saheela was accepted at 12 other colleges, including MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Brown, Princeton, Columbia, and the University of Chicago. In the end, Saheela chose Harvard, based on her seven-year-old brother’s advice. (Hint: He wants to attend Harvard, someday.)

Saheela’s Nigerian parents, totally supportive of the young scholar, sometimes taught her subjects the schools didn’t offer. Saheela believes the key to success is knowing what you love to learn as early as possible, a knowledge she says she came to at age five. “If you are passionate about what you do, and I am passionate about many things, especially math and science, it will work out well.” The teen is also interested in languages, and knows Yoruba, Arabic, Spanish, and Latin, in addition to English.

On the lighter side, Saheela plays softball, soccer, and the trombone. She also sings in the school choir and serves as president of the school’s investment club. She has a SAT score of 2,340 SAT (a perfect 800 on the math section, a 790 in writing and a 750 in reading). Saheela plans to major in either neurobiology or neuroscience, and hopes to become a scientist in order to study how the brain works.

As for her own brain, Saheela claims she is nothing special. “I try my best in everything I do,” Saheela said. “Anyone who’s motivated can work wonders.”

 

[IFE]

Gabriel See, 15, Washington, USA



took serious notice when Gabriel scored a 720 out of 800 score on the SAT math test.

When he was nine years of age, he raced through high-school Advanced Placement math and science classes — calculus, statistics, physics, chemistry, and biology — scoring a perfect 5 in each subject.

At age 10, Gabriel worked on T-cell receptor research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. When he was 11, he won a silver medal at a competition on synthetic biology for undergraduate college students at MIT.

In 2010, he started taking upper-level math classes at University of Washington, and now takes graduate math courses. Gabriel has completed more than enough hours of graduate level courses to get a master’s degree in applied mathematics.

Gabriel’s parents want to keep him engaged, but recognize that, because of his age, he is not always emotionally ready to handle courses designed for older students. They also want him to have a teenage life, so Gabriel attends Renaissance School of Art and Reasoning, an arts-oriented junior high school, where on half-days he takes drama, language arts, and dance.

When he is not in school, Gabriel swims at the YMCA, takes music classes, or plays Ultimate Frisbee.

In 2011, at age 13, Popular Science magazine named Gabriel one of the nation’s top 10 high school inventors. That is especially noteworthy since technically See is not even in high school yet!

We are confident we’ll be hearing and See-ing more about this teen in the years to come.

 

[IFE]

1. The World's 50 Smartest Teenagers | The Best Schools
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