The desire to change the world is often called a lofty, even impossible, goal, especially for young people who are too often disregarded in social and political spaces. But that hasn’t stopped many young people from trying — and succeeding. Following in the footsteps of youth activists like the Greensboro Four, Greta Thunberg, Malala Yousafzai, and Marley Dias, teens from all over the world continue to take risks, fight back, and prove time and again that they have the power to shake the world, demanding to make it a better place for themselves and future generations. When their work and commitment to change finds investment, what they can accomplish knows little bounds.
That’s where Rise comes in: Founded in 2019, the program finds young changemakers ages 15 to 17 who are doing important work in their communities to improve the lives of others, and connects them with partners around the world who can propel the work even further.
Every year, Rise names the Rise Global Winners – teens from around the world who are doing impactful, service-driven work in their communities. An initiative of Schmidt Futures and Rhodes Trust, Rise is the anchor program of a $1 billion commitment from Eric and Wendy Schmidt to find and support global talent. Depending on need, winners can receive a four-year scholarship that covers post-secondary tuition and living expenses, access to funding a social impact project, laptops and other tech, and more.
This year, 100 teens were given the prestigious honor. They come from countries far and wide, including Kenya, Madagascar, India, and the U.S., but share a dedication to social change, and have created and lead impactful projects in their communities.
Among them is Jakub Dobosiewicz, a climate change advocate from Poland, who created Mendly, an online platform that connects customers with professionals who can repair and customize their clothing. Through Mendly, Dobosiewicz hopes to make a dent in the over-consumption that plagues the fashion industry by creating a database that helps people find tailors to make their existing clothing last longer. Fast fashion is the third leading polluter in the globe, emitting 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and releasing 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
“Fashion allows us to wear original [clothing] and be ourselves, which is especially important for us young people. But there’s the other side of the coin: contaminated rivers and oceans,
deforestation, and violations of human and workers rights [as a result of clothing production],” says Dobosiewicz. “I have always been horrified by the idea that fashion companies produce clothes which end up on landfills after just a few uses, and many of them are not recyclable at all. I’ve strictly reduced my consumption, buying only what is necessary, but I felt that it wasn’t enough. I’ve been trying to convince my friends and family that we don’t need to buy more clothes, even second-hand, but it wasn’t easy at all.”
Dobosiewicz hopes Mendly will encourage people to repair their clothes instead of buying new, caring for the garments instead of immediately tossing them when they are damaged or fall out of style. “Talking to my friends about my Rise Project, I encouraged them to buy less and local and ignited them for action,” he says.
Convincing people to change their behaviors is no easy feat, and Rise Global Winner Charlotte Ava Rosario knows that first-hand, especially when it connects to trauma. Rosario is a mental health advocate from California, who looked to her own experiences with suicide as inspiration for her Rise Project.
“When I lost my dad to suicide at 12 years old, I lost trust in myself. I was haunted by the statistic that children of parents who die by suicide are three times more likely to die the same way. I was scared,” she says. “As a result, I was presented with two paths: I could either give into fear and shame and never speak about or acknowledge suicide, or I could confront the issue head on.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 13% of high school-age girls have attempted suicide, while 30% have seriously considered it. For LGBTQ+ teens, that rate nearly doubles, with 22% attempting suicide and a staggering 45% having considered it at some point in their lives.
Rosario developed ALSO, an app that matches teens who have had similar experiences in loss, grief, or adversity, providing them a support system from someone who understands what they’re dealing with. “When I lost my dad to suicide, I was afraid of being judged or perceived as ‘damaged'’ and struggled with coming forward about my situation,” she explains. “I believed my dad’s suicide was something I should be ashamed of, and it made me feel incredibly isolated and alone. My struggle with finding peer support after my dad died led me to build an app where teens can find others overcoming similar adversity. I needed a friend who could understand what I was going through, who wouldn't just pity me or look down on me, but really understand me.”
Much like Rosario, Brenda Faith Ochieng has drawn on her personal experience as an advocate for diversity and representation. The Kenyan youth activist created the Black Dolls for Black Girls Initiative, which provides dolls to Black girls that reflect their skin color, hair texture, and cultures.
“As a young Black girl, I struggled to form an identity and appreciate my skin especially when everything that I could relate to seemed to scream that I was out of place,” says Ochieng. “Like many Black girls in Africa, I owned a white doll with straight blonde hair and blue eyes and so did my friends and with time it became an unwritten rule that we should strive to look like our dolls. If I had a toy that reflected who I am at an early age, my perception of myself would have improved greatly.”
Through her project, Ochieng hopes to combat colorism and promote self-love, giving young girls a vital way to see and share their identities and selves. Black dolls have historically been hard to find on the market. Peruse any doll aisle at a store and you’ll find an endless supply of white dolls – with different jobs, interests, and cute little accessories to boot. It is through dolls that children, especially girls, first begin to learn about beauty standards and which type of faces are considered ideal, reflecting the racism, colorism, and Eurocentric beauty standards that plague our societies and harm women.
“Like many young girls I started to feel out of place because of my skin, from TV commercials to movie actresses, nobody seemed to look like me,” she says. “Hence, I began to slowly understand that my skin tone and hair texture had no place in society. I do not wish that other Black girls have the same experiences I had because of lack of representation.”
Ochieng hopes her project, and the ongoing work on combating colorism in our society as a whole, will help “dark skin girls feel comfortable to be themselves” and create a lasting impact when it comes to representation and racism.
These are just three winners whose commitment to improving lives and bettering the world is making a tangible difference in our world. Through their vision and commitment to change, we can all feel greater hope for the future, especially in their hands.
“Many of my peers feel sad, insecure, or anxious about the future. I am also facing this,” says Dobosiewicz. “But I don’t want to stay just with my anxiety, because I know that it can be fought with knowledge and actions. Because who else will change the future if not me, if not us, young people?”
