What A Difference A Teen Makes
What can one person do? What can one teen do? Well a lot and never let them tell you otherwise. It seems that there are fabulous teens out there that are showing such initiative as to not wait until the world says they are old enough to do something great. They want to do something great now.
World Community Organizer
Youth Action International and PeaceForKids.Org were founded by Kimmie Weeks to give young people a chance to participate in pressing humanitarian problems around the world. Since its establishment, Youth Action International has raised thousands of dollars for humanitarian programs and Kimmie Weeks has been a huge activist for child soldiers and an inspiration to U.S. children. Kimmie has been working on projects for peace since he was 11 years old.
<Athletics
The video clip to the left includes two teens that accomplished great goals despite their physical disabilities. Ellie Simmons who is an Olympic swimmers and won two gold medals at Beijing. She has been honored by the queen and is the youngest person to have received that honor. In the last clip is Christopher who has become a well known talented illustrator and has been honored and met so many people as a result of his talent including having illustrated the queen.
Inventions
Andrew Sutherland is a student at Albany High School in Albany, California who upon having to learn 111 french animal names devised a computer program and website that takes the information that has to be learned and creates quizzes with the information. The site is called Quizlet. It creates flashcards to help the student study and then tests your knowledge creating new quizzes based on the students academic progress.
Nonprofit Organizations
Youth for Environmental Sanity was founded in 1990 by 16 year-old Ocean Robbins and 19 year-old Ryan Eliason to educate, inspire, and empower youth to join forces for social justice and environmental sanity. Since 1990, YES! has spoken in person to 620,000 students in school assemblies, held 83 week-long youth action training camps and hundreds of day-long workshops, and inspired the formation of more than 400 nonprofit clubs and organizations working for positive change. YES! supports youth committed to building a just and sustainable world, helping young changemakers to expand effectiveness, network with one another, and gain the support they’ll need for a lifetime of action. YES! alumni have persuaded schools and businesses to purchase recycled products, offer organic and vegetarian options in cafeterias, retrofit their lighting, and offer anti-prejudice trainings.
Teens are doing amazing things everyday. Maybe one of these teens will inspire your teen to do something great right now rather than waiting until they are an “adult.” Or, maybe your teen is already doing something out of this world, let me know your story!
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