Most teenagers in the United States spend their time trying to make time for school,family and friends.But some choose bigger goals. At age 15,Winter Vinecki has already had more successes than most people have in their lifetime."I recently completed a marathon on all seven continents and became the youngest person in the world to do so.And I was really doing this for my dad." Doctors discovered that Winter's father had a rare and deadly form of prostate cancer when she was nine years old.Then he died 10 months later."When he was first diagnosed with prostate cancer I immediately knew I had to do something to help him.That's when I formed Team Winter for prostate cancer research and awareness." Through Team Winter and social media,Winter Vinecki has raised almost 500,000 dollars.She has taken prostate cancer education worldwide through foot races called marathons,on seven continents.In the United States she travels continually to talk about prostate cancer and urge others to act. Winter Vinecki attended a conference recently in Los Angeles,California and spoke at the conference as one of several teenagers who spoke about young people who were living extraordinary lives. "So prostate cancer is much more common but men don't want to talk about it.So that is why a ten-year-old girl had to go out there and start talking about it for them." Another speaker was Jack Andraka who invented a sensor which is not as expensive as traditional equipment that can't be afforded by most common people.It can identify cancers of the pancreas and lungs.He was 15 at the time. Jack is now 17 and seeking patents for his latest inventions.He has developed low-cost water quality equipment which can help identify and remove heavy metals and poisonous chemicals from water. "I hope to see them used in the developing nations such as Bangladesh and parts of China and India,especially as well as in parts of Africa,where these heavy metal and pesticides  and other kinds of waste are a major problem." We can learn that Winter Vinecki's father died   _  .
about 5 years ago not long ago this year only 10 months ago when she was about 15