LEARNING & EDUCATION YOUNG INNOVATORS MICHAEL SHRAER, JUNIOR WRITER oday’s kids are the next generation of the world. And if we want to be a successful generation, we need to be better than the generation before us. That means we have to be smarter and more creative. Some of the kids at my school are already developing these skills, like Danylo Stoian and Finn Dueterman. They are both really talented, and I know you will think so too. Meet Danylo Danylo Stoian is a 7th grader at Kirkland MS who has a passion for programming and web design. He has created several things, including a website with games on it, a fake “blue screen” that appears when you put in the wrong code, and other things. Here is my interview with him. Danylo What is the biggest thing you have programmed? I created a Mario game, and it is an app that took me five months to make. T How did you make it? First I used Python to write the code (no chat gpt!), and then I used this thing called Py-installer. It doesn’t do what you probably think it might do, because it doesn’t install Python. It turns the Python program into an executable file, which I then used this app called Inno to turn the EXE file into an installer, and with the installer you can install the application. Where did you learn to do this? I have weekly lessons with a python teacher that helps me do this sort of stuff. What are you planning to do next? I am already making my next game, Pac Man. It is currently in its beta phase but I hope I will finish it soon. Meet Finn He is well known at my school for being good at hardware and fixing stuff. He has made a Theremin, a trumpet-playing robot, and some other things. Here is my interview with him. What sort of things do you make? So, the things that I make are mostly electromechanical, which are big machines that do not use computer chips but still do the task of a computer chip. This is mostly used in old telephone equipment, which is what I’ve been working on for a while. How do you decide what to build? The way I decide what to build is mostly just what interests me the most. So, if I find something that I’m really interested in, or it’s just a fun little thing that would be fun to make, I will most likely make an attempt to build it. 20 January 2026
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