By Stephanie V, Amy M, Ernest W
The year of 2020 has been a year of awakening for many Gen-Z students, including some at Galileo. Political movements such as Black Lives Matter, Women’s Rights, and Global Warming have created a sense of wanting to reform America for the better. Some Galileo students feel strongly about raising awareness for these movements and are doing everything in their power to help make a difference in society.
Although they’re still only in high school, these students want to help spread awareness to these major issues that will have an impact on their future. They not only want to impact their own futures, but future generations to grow up in a safe society that is environmentally stable and promotes equality.
Galileo junior Ariana has been working to educate others about the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement because she feels that there are many people who have misconceptions and misunderstandings of what it really means. Every other week, Ariana goes on the website, “Omegle” to talk to random strangers online about this specific topic. She looks for people who disagree with the BLM movement and takes time to educate them on the actual definition of Black Lives Matter and what the movement is really about.
Ariana believes the knowledge she is trying to give others will aid everyone in the long run. She says, [education will help] to reframe twisted ideas that depict BLM as a terrorist-like organization, and for people to stop believing the false ideas that are spreading.”
-Ariana, 11th Grade
The inequality between men and women in society has made junor Jessica H. an active participant in the fight for women’s rights. Throughout quarantine, Jessica began researching the inequalities women face and realized there is a lot of work to do in order to bring about equality. She wants the world to be a safe place for her mother, herself, and her future generation of daughters.
Jessica now donates $20 a month to ‘UN Women’, a charity that supports women’s rights. She decided to start donating her money to this organization starting June of this year because UN Women works to ensure the equal participation of women in the economy and governing systems, which is what she strongly believes in.
Jessica stated, “The male dominance in America is outrageous. For example, there are various states where abortion is declared illegal and it’s the males that are part of the government that passes those laws. I also am against the gender wage gap in America. It is outrageous to me and I want to see change in the future, maybe even possibly now, but that is, sadly, deemed by society to be a reach. How bad is it to ask for equal rights?”
-Jessica H, 11th Grade
Reaching out to her over 2,000 followers on Instagram, sophomore Vivian V. uploads two posts about global warming everyday to try and help educate her followers. Over quarantine she has spent a lot of time on Instagram, looking at many posts about global warming, such as the Australian fires or the Oregon fires. This evoked a sense of fear for her as she was scared what’s going to happen to the Earth if she doesn’t start taking action. Her posts consist of videos of abnormal weather across the world, animals becoming extinct due to lost habitat from global warming, many activities humans are doing to cause global warming, and ways to reduce climate change. This movement is very important to her because she wants a safe Earth for her kids and future generations to live on, because she knows that global warming affects the world and the people in the long run.
She said, “Global warming causes natural icebergs to melt and it affects many habitats and animals such as polar bears, if this keeps on going, they’ll one day go extinct. This also causes our oceans to rise due to the melting ice caps. Us humans create too much carbon dioxide from factories, but not enough major organizations/people want to start contributing factors to reduce global warming rates, so it’s up to us day to day people to try and save the Earth.”
-Vivian V. 10th Grade
Despite the tough situations that many students have been forced into this past year due to COVID- 19, it’s clear that many are still finding ways to fight for what they believe in. Whether it’s through educating family members, donating money to charity or even spreading awareness about certain social issues through social media, our community has proved resilient through these trying times.
