Junior Achievement inspires and prepares kids for success - WPSD Local 6: Your news, weather, and sports authority

 Preparing for college or maybe even a wedding. Chances are when you were 18, you were not finding a way to make millions of dollars. But thanks to technology, some kids are living the digitized American dream.

Nick D'Aloisio was 17 when he made headlines for his app Summly, a web platform and smartphone app that provides summaries from thousands of sources. Yahoo bought it for $30 million. He then tested out of high school so he could work in Yahoo's London office.

Dow Jones named Brian Wong to their "FASTech 50" list. He developed a platform that lets brands and companies give real-world rewards for in-game achievements. Wong raised $15 million at age 19.

Ashley Qualls could have made millions when Myspace launched. She was 14 when she launched Whateverlife.com. It offered web graphics and layouts for Myspace users. She made $70,000 in months, but reportedly turned down a $1.5 million offer.

In 1965, 17-year-old Fred DeLuca borrowed $1,000. With it, he started Subway. Mark Zuckerberg was in college when he founded Facebook. Your teen could do the same and turn their idea into a company.

It's all about initiative. That's the attitude behind the Junior Achievement Program, designed to inspire and prepare young people for success in a global economy. How's that different from your child's classroom? Program president Jack Kosakowski explains.

"We think the creativity and the energy for entrepreneurship is present in young people and that's why we like to get them while they're young, show them what is possible and show them why what they're learning in school relates to what they're going to be doing in future life," Kosakowski says. "It connects the dots for students."

In the program, kids are tasked with finding ways to solve every day problems. They also learn financial literacy and how to make their concepts real. Part of the products and services these teens create turn into something really important.

For more information about Junior Achievement's programs and a list of office locations, click here.