It’s easy to feel powerless with all the turmoil that’s going on in the world. Global events from the violent wars in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, the upcoming U.S. election exacerbating political tensions, AI’s effects on the shrinking job market, harmful deep fakes, and climate change’s present consequences all seem like giant, impenetrable problems.
Exams, hobbies, and extracurriculars may seem insignificant compared to the momentous change you hope to enact, like being a game-changer on the political stage and creating groundbreaking technologies to offset climate change. However, something often overlooked is your voice’s potential to inspire others and bring attention to key issues, even in high school: The world’s problems won’t wait, and neither should you. Waiting until later to start could also mean missing out on time to explore your passions and develop your voice. In this article, we’ll explore how to come up with a plan of action to evoke the change you want to see in the world.
1. Brainstorming
Many internal and external forces at play make up who you are. It might be hard to pinpoint the ones most important to you. You can brainstorm using the questions below and dive deeper into your ideas. Even if you already have ideas, this activity can help you better understand what you care about and strengthen your arguments.
What directly affects you? People you care about?
Example: Since educational inequalities affected me directly, I have found a deep-rooted passion for education reform.
How has your surroundings shaped who you are?
Example: Growing up in a low-income neighborhood, I’ve grown to appreciate the hard-working individuals in my community and their stories of adversity and strength.
What are some lessons you have learned throughout your life?
Example: A lesson I’ve learned is that change doesn’t happen overnight, and that growing is a slow process.
Other Questions:
- Who are the people you look up to? What are their stories?
- What’s something you haven’t given much appreciation to at first glance?
- What’s something underrated that you want to highlight?
How do you generate your ideas? Draw your thoughts, use diagrams and mind maps, make bullet lists, rant into a voice memo, or write your heart out in a Composition notebook, and don’t be afraid to be messy. You’ll have plenty of time to refine your work down the line.
Don’t know which to pick as your favorite topic? Move to the next section to see what works for you and what to shelve for later.
2. Mediums and Audiences
Now that you’ve picked a topic, it’s time to think about your mediums and audiences. Below are a few mediums you can think about using to raise awareness, but don’t confine yourself to them either!
- A poem, or series of poems
- A short story
- A photography collection
- A music composition
- An essay
- A series of art pieces unique to your artistic style
- A piece of flash nonfiction
- A research paper
- A letter to the editor on an article that speaks to you
- A graphic memoir
- An op-ed
- A podcast
- A class or group on your topic (Host a Schoolhouse Series!)
- A play
- A letter to an elected representative
- An oral history project (additional link 1, additional link 2)
- A blog (Join the Schoolhouse Blog Team!)
- A video essay
- A social media account to drive awareness
- An infographic
3. Details & Technicalities
Create a timeline for your work before getting started! Creating a plan increases the likelihood that you’ll finish your project because you’ll have a clearer idea of what exactly it is that you need to get done.
- How long will research, outlining, and drafting take?
- How should you get access to your materials? (Do you have to save up for them? Apply for grants?)
- When should you reach out to experts or other relevant voices?
- Who should you team up with?
- Which existing groups related to your cause can you join?
- When is the best time to release your work into the world?
Then, get started!
4. Sharing and Learning
Get feedback on your work before and after your releases! Whether it’s an editor, teacher, mentor, or friend, feedback is an invaluable part of the creative process. Even though it takes a lot of vulnerability, it’s arguably the part where you learn the most. You’d get feedback from people who can tap into your strengths, and provide honest suggestions from their expertise. This also helps you get accustomed to sharing your work before it goes public, which can be scary.
Consider creating a digital portfolio, a website, or a social media account to share your work with others and trace your journey. You may also choose to submit your work to competitions or publications. This article in the New York Times is a goldmine of 70+ places to publish teenage writing and art!
If you do so, remember that submission deadlines and pacing yourself are important. Give yourself enough time to give your all to your project, but also pace yourself to meet your deadlines without being stressed out. Spending hours, weeks, and even months on a piece of writing is normal. It’s not about the pace at which you write; it’s the substance of your writing that matters. Many people, including myself, go through writer’s block and multiple drafts. You don’t get a good draft without having gone through earlier versions.
If you find yourself stuck, you can revisit your initial idea and approach your topic from a different angle. You could also do freewriting by writing whatever comes to your mind without restraint to generate new ideas. Another idea is to talk through your idea with someone else. Explain it to them and see what they have to say about it. Taking time away from your project to recharge can also be a great way to help you get over writer’s block.
Reading material by other people working in your field of choice is also important. Acknowledging and learning from different perspectives, even if you know much about the topic, will expand your knowledge and credibility and help you stay open-minded.
5. Change & Example
Let’s go back to our example of educational reform! Our goal is to improve education access for young students. A blog is the medium that works best for us. It allows us to write in-depth articles on important issues, and collaborate with teammates and expert voices. A blog is easily digitally accessible and a low-cost way to get started.
Your blog can raise awareness and offer solutions on key issues related to education inequalities, such as disparities in school funding, technology access, high-quality extracurricular access, and affordable tutoring access. You can spark readers’ curiosity by writing posts on topics of interest to them and how they might get involved. From possible fields students might want to study in the future to teaching advice or how families can best support their children from a student’s point of view, your blog can reach educators, students, and families.
To quantify your impact, you can ask your readers to comment on articles or respond to polls, and offer other ways for readers to interact with you. You can measure the traffic your blog gets, how long your readers stay on the page, and how engaged your readers are. You can even work with others on your blog team to identify more problems your audience faces. If you see your numbers plateauing, or your inspiration has sputtered out, you can take a break and pivot in a different direction.
Finally, let’s think about what change looks like for you. In this example, the change happens when you see students inspired to pursue something new, and when they’re supported by genuine advice from students who have gone through the same process. Change happens when parents learn more about the student's perspective on heavy subjects like college applications and school’s impact on mental health and stress. It also materializes when educators discover ways to support their students by reading student voices on their struggles and learning methods that work best for them.
Change will look different for everyone, and making change is a lifelong endeavor. Best of luck on your journey!
Thank you to Johanna P for editing this article!
Sources:
- Ms. Thoms’ Writing to Make Change class! Her class has taught me so much and provided me with so many avenues of possibilities.
- https://www.writersdigest.com/be-inspired/7-ways-you-can-write-for-change
- https://lucindajackson.com/resources/writing-for-change-how-to-create-an-action-driven-memoir/
- https://www.governing.com/politics/the-biggest-issues-to-watch-in-2024
- https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/10-conflicts-watch-2024
- https://www.mackinac.org/S2001-01#three-types-of-education-reform