At age 13 Hart Main discovered a very serious problem with the world: there was a serious lack of manly candles. He noticed that although there was a plethora of different scents and colors, very few were ones he would classify as “manly”. For Hart this was just another problem with the world until he set his sights on a $1500 bicycle, the only issue was he needed money for it.

Hart and his family solved this dilemma by starting ManCans. ManCans produces candles made in soup cans that feature scents such as campfire, sawdust, and freshly cut grass. Hart’s business brings in over six figures each year, but even in his young age he still understands the importance of giving back to the community. ManCan primarily employs those who are developmentally challenged, and gives a chunk of their proceeds back to soup kitchens in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and several other surrounding states. ManCans are distributed by Beaver Creek candles and are currently sold in every single state.

Kiki Hardee certainly didn’t wait to enact the change she wanted. At age five, she made the observation that some kids at her school would skip cafeteria lunch because they simply couldn’t pay for it. This broke Kiki’s heart, and she began to search for a solution to help her classmates out. She had discovered that there was around $600 dollars of lunch money debt at her school, a monstrous sum for any young kid, but nevertheless she hatched a plan.

Kiki began to sell hot chocolate and cookies in order to help pay for this debt. Soon her efforts increased, and she began to host other fundraising events. Kiki’s efforts far surpassed her projections, as she was able to rake in $7,000 to pay off not just her schools lunch debt, but that of the entire district. But Kiki still was not satisfied. Through her operation: Kiki’s Kindness Project, she has raised up to $22,000 towards other school’s debt programs, with a goal of one day reaching $250,000. Although this goal may seem insurmountable to most, Kiki is more than determined to get there. The odds certainly haven’t been an issue yet.

From the time he was a little boy, Mihir Garimella has been finding ways to tackle his problems with technology. From “simple” inventions such as a violin-tuning robot, to a motion sensor that turns off the lights in his room, Garimella has always had a passion for innovation. Over time, Mihir’s inventions got even more complicated and advanced. In high school he developed a system that would assess people with concussions, and in his free time he created an application that could solve hand-written math equations. The Pittsburgh native really began to push himself, however, when he decided to enter the drone market. After observing some fruit flies, Mihir noticed that they had an incredible ability to react to any sort of danger lightning fast. He wondered what it would look like to create a tiny drone that could move in a similar manner. Mihir created FlyBot, a small modular drone that could be used in various crisis settings by emergency services. His drone is primarily suited for search and rescue, but Mihir certainly wants to explore other uses. Modification is a large portion of the draw to Mihir’s drones, as they can be used as a modular platform. A nigh time search and rescue could require a thermal camera to be plugged in, whereas a rescue in daytime low-visibility could possibly utilize a siren to help evacuation efforts. There is also numerous possibilities with mission program software, so that agencies can tailor the drone for their specific uses. Mihir is just finishing up college at Stanford, so FlyBot hasn’t gone big-time yet, but it is certainly hard to deny the significance of his innovations within the field.