Can teenagers make an impact? I’m going to skip the niceties and say yes, because this is my blog and I can do what I want. I think that it’s fairly obvious that teenagers can influence their communities, politics, and societies—and that they should try to do so. Learning how you can make your voice heard at a young age is, from my perspective, one of the best ways to guarantee that you won’t grow up believing that you simply have to accept whatever comes your way. This could be in terms of work, politics, relationships, diets, or basically anything—I’ll be focusing on general activism, and introducing some teenage activists that prove a person can create the change they want to see, no matter their age.
- Greta Thunberg: Climate Change Awareness Activist Greta, who’s currently eighteen years old, is a Swedish environmental activist who founded the School Strike for Climate. She has gained international recognition for her dedication to climate change awareness, and has even spoken at the United Nations Climate Summit
- Sophie Ming: Black Lives Matter Activist Sophie, who is eighteen, is the founder of the New York City Youth Collective, which focuses on education about issues pertaining to the Black Lives Matter movement. She has also organized large protests in Manhattan.
- Malala Yousafzai: Women’s Education Activist Malala is a Pakistani activist who, after surviving an assassination attempt on her way to school at the age of fifteen, has become globally recognized for her work to ensure that all girls and women can have an education. At age seventeen, Malala became the youngest Nobel Prize laureate.
- Sameer Jha: LGBT+ Activist At the age of fourteen, Sameer founded The Empathy Alliance, which works to make schools safer for LGBT+ youth. He is also a youth ambassador for the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Sameer has even published a book that suggests how to create welcoming classrooms for LGBT+ students
- Parkland shooting survivors: Gun Control Advocacy After the horrifying shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, which claimed seventeen lives, the surviving students stepped up to demand change. Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Cameron Kasky, Ryan Deitsch, Carly Novell, and Sari Kaufman have sparked the March for Our Lives movement, encouraging local and national legislation to protect students from mass shootings.
- Karolina Farska: Anti-Corruption in Slovakia’s Politics At the age of nineteen, Karolina is one of the most prominent activists in Europe, who has organized marches and protests that call for the protection of democracy, one of which spurred the prime minister to resign.
- Millicent Simmonds: Disability Representation Advocate Millicent, who is seventeen years old, has been fighting for disability representation. She played the role of a deaf child in A Quiet Place, has spoken on numerous panels, and even helped design a clear mask that allows those who rely on lip reading to communicate with others during the pandemic.
This is just a sliver of potential—there are so many more teenagers out there who have and who are creating real, tangible change, whether that be on small scales such as in their schools to events that will go down in history. After all, Joan of Arc was only seventeen when she turned the tide of the Hundred Years’ War. Hopefully this serves as a reminder that you can create the change you want to see in the world.