Gitanjali Rao Named in National Alliance for Public Charter School’s ’30 Under 30 Charter School Changemakers’
- The Colorado teen scientist is named for using her talent and platform to make the world better.
Gitanjali Rao, Time magazine’s first ever ‘Kid of the Year’ has added another feather in her cap. The 15-year-old from Lone Tree, Colorado, is named by the National Alliance for Public Charter School’s ’30 Under 30 Charter School Changemakers’ for using her talent and platform to make the world better.
Coinciding with the National Charter Schools Week, an annual celebration of more than 200,000 dedicated teachers, 3.3 million students and 7,500 public charter schools across the United States, the Changemakers list honors “30 exceptional young leaders who are connected in some way to charter schools and are using their ideas, talents, and platforms to affect change.” These awards “shine a spotlight on individuals from across the country who are making a meaningful impact in their community and nationwide via arts, writing, and sports; education and politics; leadership; science; and social justice.
Rao, a young scientist was featured in an episode of Marvel’s Hero Project, “Genius Gitanjali.” The episode focused on her work inventing an app that detects lead in drinking water, inspired by a trip with her family to India and the Flint Water Crisis. which followed her work developing an app that detects lead in drinking water. Her work was inspired by a trip with her family to India and the Flint water crisis.
She went on to combat another significant problem for her generation—cyberbullying. Her app, Kindly, uses artificial intelligence to detect and combat cyberbullying in its early stages. From her incredible efforts in science and technology, at age 15 Gitanjali was selected from a field of more than 5,000 nominees as TIME’s first-ever Kid of the Year.
If that wasn’t enough, Gitanjali also dedicates her time to running innovation workshops to mentor fellow students. To date, she has mentored more than 45,000 students across 4 continents and continues to pay it forward.
This app developer and anti-cyber-bullying advocate attends STEM School Highlands Ranch in Littleton, Colorado.