Wray Ardan's Blog, page 6
December 25, 2019
In 2019, Teens Helped Prove Gen Z Is Unstoppable
If 2019 proved anything, it’s this: Never underestimate the youths.
Thanks to Generation Z ― which Pew Research Center defines as those born after the year 1996 who are 22 or younger by the end of 2019 ― this year was a little more bright.
From their wokeness on social media to their on-the-ground activism, the generation of young adults helped elevate issues often ignored or not taken as seriously by older generations (most notably: climate change).
CLICK TO READ MORE AND BE IN AWE!
December 14, 2019
The prize app designed to help deaf children in school
Schoolchildren have won a competition by designing an app which transcribes school lessons for people who are deaf or who have hearing loss.
It was part of a competition run by Amazon Web Services (AWS) to encourage young people to consider careers in technology.
As prize winners they will have the Connect Hearo app developed by AWS. It will then be rolled out for use in schools.
December 11, 2019
Greta Thunberg Is The 'Time' Person Of The Year For 2019
Greta Thunberg, the activist who has quickly become a leading voice on climate change, is Time’s Person of the Year for 2019. At 16, she is the youngest person to earn the title in the magazine’s 92-year history. TIME NPR
“We can’t just continue living as if there was no tomorrow, because there is a tomorrow,” she says, tugging on the sleeve of her blue sweatshirt. “That is all we are saying.”
It’s a simple truth, delivered by a teenage girl in a fateful moment. The sailboat, La Vagabonde, will shepherd Thunberg to the Port of Lisbon, and from there she will travel to Madrid, where the United Nations is hosting this year’s climate conference. It is the last such summit before nations commit to new plans to meet a major deadline set by the Paris Agreement. Unless they agree on transformative action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the world’s temperature rise since the Industrial Revolution will hit the 1.5°C mark—an eventuality that scientists warn will expose some 350 million additional people to drought and push roughly 120 million people into extreme poverty by 2030. For every fraction of a degree that temperatures increase, these problems will worsen. This is not fearmongering; this is science. For decades, researchers and activists have struggled to get world leaders to take the climate threat seriously. But this year, an unlikely teenager somehow got the world’s attention.
November 15, 2019
Idaho's 1st Female Lawmakers Properly Honored Thanks To 11-Year-Old Student
11-year-old Anna Wiese was drawn to the women’s stories but wasn’t happy that the exhibit was stuffed in a stairwell far from the rotunda area where most of Idaho’s legislative history is on display.
“I thought it was very, very sad because that could be out here with all the men and it shows that women can make a change in the world,” Anna says.
So Anna wrote a letter to her state senator with the help of her mom: "I personally believe that this important framed document should be placed in the main hall where several other important historical documents are hung … I would like to see this changed for it sends a message that men and women are not treated equally.“
The exhibit now has two glass display cases that will rotate different artifacts related to Idaho’s first female lawmakers.
Anna says she hopes people take an inspiring message away from this experience.
"Children can make a change,” she says. “Kids my age can make a change, not just adults.”
READ MORE ABOUT THE FEMALE LAWMAKERS & ANNA WIESE
Anna Wiese, 11, stands in front of a plaque in the state Capitol building commemorating Idaho’s first female legislators. She originally found the plaque tucked away in a forgotten corner last year and wrote a letter to get it moved.
November 1, 2019
Greta Thunberg to join L.A. youth climate strike planned for today
Young people are taking to the street again to protest inaction on climate change, joining Swedish teen Greta Thunberg and other activists in a school strike Friday in Los Angeles.
“We’re not going to stop striking until they start listening to us,” said Chandini Brennan Agarwal, 16, a 10th-grader at New West Charter School on L.A.’s Westside and one of the strike organizers. “Even though our focus this time is oil wells in California, we’re still trying to send a message about the climate crisis to politicians worldwide.”
October 8, 2019
Groundbreakers
For International Day of the Girl, TODAY is celebrating 18 girls under 18 who are breaking down barriers, changing the world and inspiring others, despite – and because of – their young age. READ ABOUT THESE AMAZING GIRLS HERE…
Franiya Tiffany, 9
September 10, 2019
This Rising Star Chef Is Vegan — And Only 11 Years Old
Chef Omari McQueen stands in the doorway of his vegan Caribbean pop-up restaurant Dipalicious.
An 11-year-old boy recently hit up 53-year-old Roger Wade on LinkedIn, wishing to open a restaurant one day. Wade wrote back: Why not now?
When Wade, CEO of Boxpark, a chain of hip food halls in London, was 11 years old himself, he sold candy to his schoolmates. He cited that memory as a heartstring plucked by Omari McQueen, the 11-year-old LinkedIn user. “Age doesn’t define a person any more than gender or race does,” Wade said. “We were happy to support a dream. Omari is a role model for dreaming big.” READ MORE…
September 4, 2019
Elementary school students build machine to pull tiny pieces of plastic from sand
HONOLULU, Hawaii - For a school project at Hahaione Elementary, students Sophia and Lucas Magel built a machine that extracts tiny plastic pieces from beach sand. WATCH VIDEO or Read more…
August 30, 2019
Young People Doing the RIGHT Thing
Hundreds of teens join Greta Thunberg in climate protest outside UN
Carrying hand-drawn placards with messages such as “united behind the science” and “act now or we will”, children and young people of all ages from New York and nearby states such as Pennsylvania and New Jersey, met at a park in front of the flags of the world outside the UN. Read more…
August 17, 2019
Greta Thunberg: 'To do your best is no longer good enough'
“You only speak of green eternal economic growth because you are too scared of being unpopular. You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake,” Thunberg told those assembled in a quiet, steely voice. “You are not mature enough to tell it like is. Even that burden you leave to us children. But I don’t care about being popular. I care about climate justice and the living planet.”
“We have come here to let you know that change is coming, whether you like it or not. The real power belongs to the people,” she added.
