At just 12 years old, Rebecca Young has turned a school project into a real-world invention that is already helping some of Glasgow’s most vulnerable residents. Her creation—a solar-powered backpack that doubles as a heated blanket—has earned her a spot on Time magazine’s first ever Girls of the Year list, where she appears alongside young changemakers from around the globe.
Rebecca’s recognition comes with a unique twist: she has been immortalised as a Lego minifigure as part of a collaboration between Time and Lego to encourage girls to see themselves as builders and innovators. It’s a fitting tribute for a child who has already shown how imagination, paired with compassion, can create something life-changing.
How a school project became a lifeline
The idea for the backpack was sparked when Rebecca, then 11, was asked to take part in a design challenge through her school. Seeing people forced to sleep rough on the streets of Glasgow left her wondering what she could do to help. That led to her designing a bag fitted with solar panels that could store enough power to heat an integrated blanket, offering warmth to people who would otherwise face the freezing Scottish winter without it.
The design wasn’t just a sketch on paper. Rebecca threw herself into the details—looking at solar panel types, wiring, and battery capacities to make sure the idea could actually work. When she entered the MacRobert Trust Primary Engineer competition, her invention was chosen out of 70,000 entries, earning her a silver award and the commendation medal in the public vote.
That success helped push the idea beyond the classroom. Engineering company Thales partnered with her school to turn her design into reality, producing 30 working prototypes which were delivered to homeless shelters in Glasgow earlier this year. The Guardian reported that the project has already helped rough sleepers and that plans are underway to make another 120 backpacks so the impact can be felt more widely across the city.
A global spotlight
It was this combination of creativity and compassion that landed Rebecca a place on Time’s inaugural Girls of the Year list. The list was created to spotlight ten girls worldwide who, in different ways, are making their communities better. As The Guardian noted, it is also part of a wider campaign with Lego aimed at challenging long-held stereotypes that discourage girls from seeing themselves as inventors. Research by Lego has shown that a majority of young girls don’t identify as builders, often assuming that big innovations—from Wi-Fi to spaceflight technology—were the work of men.
Dayana Sarkisova, senior editor at Time, explained that the aim of the list was to highlight young people who refuse to accept the world as it is. Lego’s chief product and marketing officer Julia Goldin added that turning the honourees into Lego minifigures was about visibility: “When girls don’t see it, they don’t believe it—the world risks missing out on the next big breakthrough.”
Rebecca’s response was characteristically modest. Speaking after the announcement, she told Sky News she felt it was “cool and very unexpected” to be chosen, adding that she hopes her work encourages other children to use their imagination to help people.
Rebecca wants big things for her future
Though still only in her first year of secondary school, Rebecca has ambitions that stretch well beyond engineering. She loves maths, science and art, but also dreams of one day being a drummer in an all-female rock band. Her teachers describe her as someone who doesn’t just excel in the classroom but also embodies a determination to follow her own path. Kelvinside Academy’s rector praised her as a “shining example of how a caring young person can see a problem and do something about it.”
For now, her invention continues to make a tangible difference. As The Times reported, those who have tested the backpacks in shelters say the warmth they provide is more than physical—it’s a reminder that people care. The next batch of 120 bags could expand that impact significantly, showing how a single idea from a child can ripple into something much larger.
Rebecca’s achievement also carries a symbolic weight. In the middle of global conversations about climate, homelessness, and inequality, here is a child who has stepped in with a practical, hopeful solution. It shows that creativity doesn’t have to wait until adulthood, and that sometimes the most effective ideas come from people not yet old enough to vote.
Recognition on a global stage like Time’s Girls of the Year list ensures that Rebecca’s voice—and her invention—will reach far beyond Glasgow. And for the girls who see her Lego figure and learn her story, it may just spark the belief that they, too, can build something that changes lives.