Each month, iParenting.com spotlights a teen who inspires and moves us, who embodies the qualities that we all admire in a person, a friend, and a son or a daughter. Above all, the Teen of the Month is dedicated to making a positive mark on the planet. Rich or poor, famous or not, the Teen of the Month shines as an example of what today's teens have to offer.

March's Teens of the Month are Nicholas and Kaycee Johnsen, Amy and Alyssa Hansen, inventors.

This is only the second time that iParenting has chosen a group of four to be our “teen" of the month. Not only that, but two of these kids aren’t technically teenagers yet. However, given their amazing achievement we thought we’d better catch them now before they’re too busy – and much too famous – to stop for an interview. We couldn’t do just one or two without the others, because these kids are a team – Team Wave Riders, to be exact – and they’re the inventors of what promises to be one of the hottest and coolest toys of the year.

Slated to be released sometime this summer, Boogie-2-Boogie is a wave riding board that can be ridden by two people. And, much to the delight of every parent who has ever stood on a beach waving their arms frantically for their child to come in for lunch – or into shallower surf – it’s also equipped with a light on the nose that is controlled by the parent on shore. Sandwiches ready? Just push the button.

Boogie-2-Boogie won the 2004 TOYchallenge, which was created by Sally Ride Science, Smith College and Hasbro Inc., and sponsored by Hasbro and Sigma Xi, a scientific research society. As their reward, the young inventors have had action figures created in their likeness, are working with marketing experts to develop packaging for their product and hope the royalties are the ticket to their future educations.

Friends-4-Life
Nicholas Johnsen, 13, his sister Kaycee, 11, Amy Hansen, 13, and her sister, Alyssa, 11, have been close friends all their lives. So it was a natural impulse for Amy, who is involved in the Sally Ride Science Club, to ask her sister and their friends, the Johnsens, if they wanted to team up when she first heard about the TOYchallenge. “When we first started talking about it, I knew we would have fun and it would be easy to set up meetings because we spend a lot of time together anyway," says Nicholas. The Johnsens live in Huntington Beach, Calif., and the Hansens live in nearby Irvine.

Nicholas was a bit of an old hand at brainstorming anyway, having invented a device to carry groceries from the car when he was in the sixth grade. He knew the most important aspect of the inventing process is to find a problem and invent a way to solve it. They settled on a beach theme pretty early on. “We brainstormed about a lot of different ideas and finally decided to do some sort of a beach toy since we all live near the beach," he says. “When we put all our ideas together we came up with a boogie board that two friends could ride on together. That way they can talk while they’re boarding and have twice as much fun. The light solved the problem we always have with our parents of them not being able to get our attention while we’re out in the water."

Coming up with the idea was the easy part; the work itself took nearly a year. To begin with, before they could continue on to making a prototype, they had to come up with a detailed prospectus. After that, they had to keep detailed journals of every step of their process. “Everything had to be written down, so we took turns doing it on separate days," says Amy. “But it was a lot of work."

Fun-4-All
The first prototype of Boogie-2-Boogie might have almost been enough to put Team Wave Riders off toy inventing for life when it broke up before they ever got it in the water. But they didn’t give up. Prototype No. 2 was constructed of heavy-duty foam covered with wet suit material. The moms, Cherie Johnsen and Janice Hansen, taped the kids in the first nerve-wracking test ride in the waves of Huntington Beach. The parents were just relieved that it worked and stayed in one piece. The kids’ verdict was that it went beyond fun. “Boarding is fun anyway," says Amy. “When you’re playing on one that you invented, it makes it even more fun."

They took their prototype to the regional competition in Phoenix, Ariz., where they won best overall toy and $250 to help pay for the trip to the national competition. They used the money to tweak their prototype and to create a wooden stand for the board. Nicholas credits the DVD their moms made for helping them win in the national competition, which was held in San Diego, Calif. “When we went to the national competition we had the DVD of us trying it out playing on a laptop next to our board," he says. “It showed the judges how we invented it and worked to complete it and then tried it out and it worked. They could see the whole process."

The judges also asked a lot of tough questions about engineering and design that every member of the team had to be able to answer. In the end, Team Wave Riders surfed to the big win over 120 other teams. The trophies, appropriately, were shaped like Mr. Potato Head. Coolest of all was the grand prize – action figures created by Hasbro in their likeness.

Since then, Team Wave Riders has been working with a company called By Kids For Kids to market and sell Boogie-2-Boogie. The team was very involved in the cover design. Profits will go toward their eventual college educations. Before that, though, there are more challenges and more toys to invent. “We’re pretty much done with Boogie-2-Boogie and are moving on to this year’s Toy Challenge," says Nicholas. “We have four new members so we will have a team of eight people. After we did so well in 2004, pretty much everyone we knew wanted to join us this year. If we win again, the nationals are in Rhode Island, so we’re very excited about maybe getting to travel that far away."

They may not win two years in a row, but this young team has gone further already than most people ever dream.

Want to see more?

• February 2005's Teen of the Month, Thomas Rancour
• January 2005's Teen of the Month, Jerry Guo
• August 2004's Teen of the Month, Linzy Hildreth
• Talk about it!