Too much bleak news distorts our hope for the future. I’ve been collecting stories about youth who make a difference, and I’m ready for some good news – aren’t you?
Remarkable teens out there challenge the status quo, seek innovation, and work to ignite change. Some are famous already: Greta Thunberg’s quest to educate people about climate change, Malala Yousafzai‘s fight for education of girls in Pakistan, even Sal Kahn, who founded the free online non-profit educational platform Khan Academy years ago.
But there are many others toiling in relative obscurity. Simmi Sen, a high school senior from Vancouver, WA, founded the clothing brand Tints Streetwear to help women in Bangladesh and India get vocational and educational training that could break the cycle of poverty. (https://tintsstreetwear.com/) When he was a freshman at Harvard, Sahil Sood founded HYPE, a health care non-profit that distributed money and led to his current role as the International Vice President of HOSA-Future Health Professionals, a nonprofit career technical organization that aims to help students pursue careers in healthcare. (https://www.arielfoundation.org/mr-sahil-sood/ – :~:text=Sahil Sood is a youth,prominent issues in the community.) A victim of Lyme disease as a child, Olivia Goodreau founded the LivLyme Foundation to provide financial support to families, fund research, and provide education and awareness. (https://livlymefoundation.org/)
There are many others. As a high school student, Radhika Goyal founded the nonprofit TechPower4All to break gender and socioeconomic barriers in technology. (https://techpower4all.org/) High school student Alex Chen Alex Chen launched Youth for Finance, the largest youth-led financial literacy nonprofit organization in the U.S., with over 75 registered school chapters, 3,000 members, and four finance events hosted with more than 400 attendees. (https://www.youthforfinance.org/) When she was only 18, Neha Shukla was a New York Times-featured young inventor, chair of the World Economic Forum’s Generation AI Youth Council, and the bestselling author of Innovation for Everyone: Solving Real-World Problems with STEM and A Kids Book About AI. (https://www.neha-shukla.com)
Still more: To deal with her own depression and an eating disorder, Emily Bhatnagar founded For Love & Buttercup, collecting tens of thousands of books for sick children and schools in economically disadvantaged communities. (https://www.forloveandbuttercup.com/) When she was only eight years old, Sammie Vance launched the Buddy Bench project, collecting plastic bottle caps to turn into benches that promote kindness and inclusion at schools. Her eco-friendly project encourages kids to make friends while also helping the planet. (https://sammiesbuddybenchproject.com/) Two years ago, after taking a sixth-grade programming class at his San Francisco private school, Jacob Shaul wanted to share his passion with students at other schools. Despite a lack of enthusiasm from most school administrators, he managed to launch Mode to Code to introduce computer programming to middle schoolers. Mode to Code now partners with 30 institutions, offers classes in other countries, and is teaching senior citizens in the Bay area. (https://www.modetocode.com/)
There are so many stories like these – an internet search offers profiles of youth making a difference. Many other stories go unnoticed, but they matter. There’s even an organization to support these efforts called “Do Something.” Founded 31 years ago, their mission is to fuel young people to change the world by making volunteerism as cool as sports for young. They have over 1 million active members ages 13-25 committed to leading the change they want to see. https://dosomething.org/)
These youth should inspire us. Their leadership shows us what’s possible. They may be extraordinary, but every teen has potential to innovate, to support their community, to make a difference. What can – and should – we do to motivate more young people to follow their lead?
For years I advocated for a senior service project. I saw first-hand how my problem-solving class, which exposed my students to service-learning projects of both my and their design, transformed their commitment to others. At a time when so many of our students seem disconnected if not downright alienated, why don’t we lead the way?