Girls Who Code Alum Tejasvi Manoj Selected As TIME’s 2025 Kid of the Year

Tejasvi Manoj, an alumna of Girls Who Code, was named TIME’s Kid of the Year for creating a website designed to educate senior citizens about cybersecurity. TIME recognizes a young leader (ages 8-16) each year for positively impacting others through service, innovation, achievement, or entrepreneurship. 

The inspiration for creating the website called Shield Seniors was Tejasvi’s grandfather, who was targeted by scammers. The site aims to educate older Americans on what online scams look like, analyze suspicious emails and messages users upload, and, if the communications are deemed fraudulent, provide links to report the scam.

A senior at Lebanon Trail High School in Frisco, Texas, Tejasvi started coding in the eighth grade. She participated in a Girls Who Code summer program and commented, “Girls Who Code was such an amazing experience, and it truly sparked my love for code, and for that, I couldn’t be more grateful!”