Scientist, dancer, singer, baker and now Time’s Kid of the Year, meet 15-year-old Gitanjali Rao, an Indian-American from Denver, Colorado. She was chosen as the first-ever ‘Kid of the Year’ by Time magazine for her astonishing and ground-breaking work as a scientist and innovator. She used technology to tackle issues from contaminated drinking water to opioid addiction and cyber bullying.
Gitanjali was selected from more than 5,000 nominees for the title of ‘Kid of the Year’ as she “stood out for creating a global community of young innovators and inspiring them to pursue their goals”, according to Time.
“ If I can do it, you can do it, anyone can do it,” she said.
She was interviewed by actor and activist Angelina Jolie for the TIME special.
While talking about her journey in innovation and science, Gitanjali said that a lot of her inspirations were drawn from India. “A lot of the inspiration that I have drawn in from India. Looking at the water problem in India helped me understand how much of a widespread problem lead water is, especially in India”, she said.
She believed that everyone has the right to clean water which led to her innovation, “It is such a tragedy that people don’t have clean water to drink. Everyone has the right to clean water.”
Gitanjali revealed that she has been approached by multiple institutions in India and would love to see those institutions reach out to their budding scientists too.
“When I was much younger, I was told to go fetch water with my cousin from a well. My grandma would boil it and then we would drink it. We walked a far distance to get the water. I remember taking a sip of it and for the next week I was sick,” she said.
She further said that it was one of the hardest experiences of her life, being only 4 or 5 years old at the time. The incident stuck with her, reminding her why clean water is so important for people all over the world. Marie Curie is her greatest inspiration.
She said that her cyberbullying app ‘Kindly’ is an artificial intelligence-based service to detect or prevent cyber bullying. This identifies words or phrases that might be considered bullying.
Gitanjali is currently working on a ‘ reporting’ feature in looking at the trends and report future cyber bullying to someone who is parent or guardian.
Gitanjali Rao was previously named “ America’s top young scientist” for inventing a quick, low-cost test to detect lead-contaminated water.
Time magazine began naming its ‘ Man of the Year’ in 1972 and later changed it to Person of the Year.
Last year, Greta Thunberg, the Swedish school girl who inspired a global movement to fight climate change. She was the youngest person ever to be chosen by the magazine.
Time said the new Kid of the Year title was a “ barometer for the rising leaders of America’s youngest generation”.
