We live in an era in which we are surrounded by a multitude of social issues: climate change, racism, unequal pay for men and women, anti-semitism, and many others. While these issues affect us all, the responses to these issues are dictated only by adults: In the U.S. , we are not able to vote until we are eighteen and the leaders of all nations as well as the members of the United Nations are all adults. As we can see, there are no major organizations that take note of teenagers’ views and opinions on the social issues of our era. Teenagers are not only denied a voice, but are also led to believe that their voice cannot have a real impact. However,  being the future leaders and visionaries of our world, teenagers have an incredibly potent voice simply lacking a proper platform to help with its amplification. As teenagers, we hold a unique position that differs from that of other individuals at other stages of their lives in that we have the opportunity to experience and study a variety of topics throughout each year of our high school careers. We are able to learn languages, analyze great works of literature, study the laws of the world’s chemical, biological, and physical states, and study mathematics each year of our high school career. This intermix of a variety of subjects allows us to form views on the world that are multi-faceted, thus holding even more insight. All being said, teenagers’ views and beliefs must be heard as they have the possibility of creating a massive impact on our world in addressing the multitude of social issues which we face through their vast diversity of knowledge. Although there are teenagers such as Greta Thunberg who have taken matters into their own hands, positively influencing our world’s state of affairs, greater power comes in the ability for us to join together and express our views. Therefore, if we use a collective platform to promote our views on the many social issues which we are surrounded by, then we are able to amplify each of our distinct voices and thus create a greater change. 

This is why I have created a creative journal that provides teenagers with this outlet. My creative platform allows teenagers to collectively address these issues and to share their unique perspectives on these issues in order to truly create an impact. Every two months, there will be a new social issue that the platform will cover and anyone can upload a piece of artwork, photograph, or piece of writing that pertains to this issue. Each issue will be broad in order to provide each contributor with the possibility of developing their own take on it. Therefore, the piece that you upload does not need to be whatever seems directly relevant to the issue, it simply must be your own personal take on it. The first issue that the platform will discuss will be “Truth”. I look forward to your submissions! 

You can contact Kamie at [email protected] for submissions and further inquiry!