It’s late, and I’m lying down in bed with my phone inches away from my face, scrolling endlessly. Story after story pops up. A headline screams about violence and war. A mother cries on my screen, talking about how she cannot afford to feed her children because of her $35,000 debt. A teenage son films a video about how he’s trying to raise money for his family because their house burned down in a wildfire. A young college student talks about trying to earn money to send to her family, which is stuck in a war zone. I keep scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. By the time it’s time for bed, I feel like I’ve seen thousands of ways this world of ours is falling apart. And I’m struck by how little control I have over any of it.
Perhaps the only question running through my mind as I read the stories is how can I help? And then the next question: How can a person who still needs permission to go on a field trip have anything to do with causing some change that can help our world? But is the power to change really about age or is it about my actions?
Most of society has told me that impact comes with gray hair, and actual influence comes with decades of experience. Maybe even a PhD or two. However, history has told me otherwise.
When she was 15 years old, Greta Thunberg started protesting about climate change outside the Swedish Parliament. When Malala Yousafzai was speaking out about girls’ education, she was 13 years old. Neither of them waited to be older or richer or more qualified. All they did was recognize a problem and refuse to stay silent. They didn’t need permission to gain power.
Young people hold a kind of power that most adults have already lost: a sense of urgency. We are the generation that will live the longest with today’s decisions. And whether that decision is about climate, technology, or education, for us, our future is personal. We still believe that things can be better and I think that belief is powerful.
This belief is in action every day at Belmont High School, particularly through the Black in Belmont student club and the Belmont Pan Asian Coalition, where students and town members take the lead on conversations that matter.
Lisha-Halee Moussignac, the student president of Black in Belmont, says while teachers and those in power often “motivate and encourage you to create change,” there is often a lack of support once students actually take action because “adults perceive that there [is] a level to what students or young adults can achieve.” Her advice to peers is to ignore those perceived limits and “just go for it.” In an environment with so few Black students, she found her peers followed “quickly” once she took the lead in speaking out for better diversity.
While the Belmont Pan-Asian Coalition is mainly made up of adults, the group’s president, Julie Wu, tells students that adults “sometimes don’t consider that young people can help out in organizations, or even for the town.”
She encourages students to start small by finding an unmet need and connecting with others doing similar work elsewhere. By bridging the gap between school and the wider town, these two groups prove that students don’t have to wait for the future to make a real impact.
Change doesn’t come with one big declaration of action. This kind of change comes with slow, thorough and consistent action that builds up one day at a time. This action can come by educating ourselves on world events, starting conversations with our peers about how to bring about change. It can also come by looking around our town in our community and learning about what people around us are actually doing about ongoing situations and joining those initiatives ourselves.
So, the next time you’re scrolling through your phone, overwhelmed by headlines, ask yourself: what is one issue that you care enough about enough to act on? If we take action now, one day, we can create something that could transform the world, one small step at a time.
Christelle Moïse is a junior at Belmont High School with a passion for reading mysteries, ice skating, and listening to music. When she’s not focused on schoolwork or volunteering in her community, she channels her creativity into writing about teen mental health and pop culture. With a strong commitment to using her voice for good, Christelle strives to raise awareness of important issues and shed light on often overlooked perspectives.