The everyday life of a 17 year old may seem relentlessly tedious, but just because you are a teenager does not mean you are incapable of doing something to change the world. Here is a list of five people who have changed the world around them for the better while under the age of 20.

As a sophomore at Stanford, Elizabeth Holmes dropped out of college and used her tuition to start her own company in a new transformed diagnostic medicine. Now, ten years later, she is on the cutting edge of medical technology- her new blood testing method allows hundreds of tests to be run using only a few drops of blood while also being faster, cheaper, more accurate, and less invasive than the conventional methods. She has been featured as Forbes youngest self-made female billionaire and a coauthor on 82 US and 189 foreign patent applications

This next teenager has made it easier for you to read the Jetstream Journal. Nick D’Aloisio designed the app called Summly, which sums up news articles in just a few sentences. Investors saw great value and potential in this London teen’s app, and Yahoo recently bought the app from D’Aloisio for $30 million.  Other investors in D’Aloisio’s work include Ashton Kutcher, Yoko Ono, and Wendi Murdoch. The teen has been designing apps since he was 12 years old with little to no tech background. Self-driven, he began to learn about programming and studied extensively. His hard work has gained him $30,000,000+.

A well-known name by now-Malala has had a huge year. She is an equal education activist and advocates education for women in Pakistan. She started out as a blogger for BBC at the ripe young age of 11, documenting her life under Taliban rule; but as she became better known for her activist efforts, she was a prime target for the Taliban. In 2012, Malala was shot in the neck and the head. Instead of cowering in fear, Malala became even more vocal in her campaigning, reaching an international audience. In 2013, this brave teenager was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and addressed the United Nations, campaigning for the right to education for every child around the world. She has also earned a Clinton Global Citizen Award and Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Malala has survived an attack on her life, and has contributed to changing the world and she’s not even 18 yet.

Is your phone battery always at red? Carrying around a charger has become an annoying habit that most people, especially teenagers, understand. Well, the times they are changing. Thanks to Eesha Khare, 18, from Saratoga, California, an answer for my dilemma is just around the corner. The young girl developed a super-capacitor that can charge a phone in 30 seconds. The same technology could be used for laptops and electric vehicles. Eesha was honored at the 2013 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair and awarded $50,000.

Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, Faleke Oluwatoyin and Bello Eniola- As part of a science project, these  African teens invented a urine powered generator which debuted at the Nigerian Innovation Fair. With the girls’ invention, one liter of urine could produce 6 hours of electricity. Emil Protanlinski of Next Web says: “Their efforts should not go unnoticed, because if this is what they’re doing as teenagers, I really hope they have the funding they need to be revolutionizing lives when they’re adults.”

All of these men and women from all over the globe have managed to make something from themselves and provided something for the society around them, while still have 70 to 80 more years to come up with new ideas. Just because you’re a teenager in high school, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have something to offer the world. You don’t have to drop out of school, especially Stanford, but take time out of your day to stop doing homework or watching the TV and think about what the world could use – your age has nothing to do with it.