When Alisa Salvans casually logged onto her email account and saw a message from Mr. Pickitt, she didn’t expect for him to be asking her to represent Richardson High School as a nominee for the prestigious Tech Titan of The Future award.

High school is, to put it gently, a little odd. For four years, gross, sweaty teenagers are clumped together and are expected to learn, socialize, get involved in activities, mature and figure out their...