12-Year-Old Named 'Girl Of The Year' For Designing Solar-Powered Sleeping Bags For Her Homeless Neighbors
12-Year-Old Named 'Girl Of The Year' For Designing Solar-Powered Sleeping Bags For Her Homeless Neighbors
12-Year-Old Named 'Girl Of The Year' For Designing Solar-Powered Sleeping Bags For Her Homeless Neighbors The Primary Engineer MacRobert Medal competition asks UK students: “If you were an engineer, what would you do?” And 12-year-old Rebecca Young had her answer right away. The young Scottish student wanted to help members of her community facing homelessness. “Unfortunately, you see so many people sleeping rough on the streets of Glasgow and I always felt bad seeing how cold they were,” Young told The Times. So, the Kelvinside Academy student invented a solar-powered heated blanket with the goal of helping unhoused people keep warm. “It was obvious to me that this could help,” she added. Photo courtesy of Primary Engineer Young started by researching sleeping bags and backpacks, curious as to how they could be designed to offer even more warmth. Of course, heated blankets do exist, though they must be plugged into a wall to function to their full potential — a luxury homeless indiv…