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Episode 1: Crisis & Change

Finn and Maya get deep about how teens handle stress and can make a difference in their communities.

Transcript:

Maya Welcome to ListenUp!, the KidSpirit podcast. My name is Maya Mesh, and I am your host for today. I was a part of KidSpirit from seventh grade to the end of high school. I am an alum. I am on the Alumni Council, and I am so happy to be back here today because I am with the lovely Finn, who is a current contributor on the New York City Ed Board. And we are here to have a conversation about our rapidly changing world, how personal and global challenges affect our lives. Finn, would you like to introduce yourself?

Finn Sure. Hi, my name is Finn. I’m 15 years old. I’m a KidSpirit contributor and editor from New York. My free time, I enjoy roaming the city with my friends. I enjoy reading myths from various cultures and listening to audiobooks online.

Maya Awesome. Let’s get started. There are a lot of changes going on right now. For me, I know I’m going through a huge period of transition. I just graduated college. I’m moving back home, figuring out career stuff. In the world, I feel like we are all trying to navigate this post-COVID reality. And I’m just kind of curious, how do you deal with challenges in your life? And how do you kind of navigate during periods of transition?

Finn Well, I think crisis and change vary in severity from person to person. I can say that in my life, I’m grateful that I don’t come into too much contact with too much change or crisis that often. When I do, however, it’s clear that the two are linked and have a sort of symbiotic relationship. Whenever I’m confronted with, like, a sudden deadline or something, what I try and do to deal with that, to deal with the change and the crisis, is to create a clear plan. This does for me is removes a lot of panic and creates a clear path forward so I’m not running around like a chicken without its head.

Maya Oh, I totally hear you. I feel like for me, I kind of, during these periods of transition, feel like kind of like a volcano and, like, everything is going on. So I totally hear you that like planning, like kind of helps keep your eyes on the prize a little bit and doesn’t let you get too lost in all the chaos. So that brings me to my next question. What do you think the relationship is between crisis and change in general?

Finn I think that both crisis and change are inextricably linked and that one naturally causes the other. A recent example is COVID-19, where that crisis and our world’s lack of preparation for said crisis. It’s a lot of change, a lot of upheaval.

Maya So let’s go further with this and talk about how youth and youth voices can really make a difference when facing global challenges. I want to ask you about your recent participation in Kids Spirit’s Global Youth Voices Project. So, from my understanding, it was where a group of contributors co-authored an article examining the responses to global crisis. Can you tell me a little bit more about your role in the project and what you researched?

Finn So, yeah, I specifically covered segregation in U.S. schools. My fellow kids went over different topics than that. Some went over how kids in general can just try and tackle issues that affect everybody or just themselves. So there’s a whole range of issues that we went over.

Maya That’s really, really fascinating. Where were the other contributors from? What did you learn from them?

Finn So again, I’m from the U.S. I’m from New York, as I mentioned before. But I was working with five other kids who were from Jordan, Pakistan, Ukraine, and again, the U.S. And it was really interesting because we were able to find, or not find, we were able to see a lot more perspectives than you would usually see. And so that was really informative and interesting.

Maya So what did you learn on your own?

Finn Well, on my own, I learned about how people wield power and where these sources of power come from. Again, my fellow kids went over different topics, such as how people can raise awareness for issues that everybody might not know about.

Maya That’s really, really cool. And what an awesome opportunity that you had. To build on that, I know KidSpirit was doing another special project on this issue of crisis and change. And they had the opportunity to interview with Joel Sartore. He is a National Geographic photographer. And in the interview, they were talking about how young people can really have big impacts on the communities that they are a part of when they’re volunteering. We want you to get a taste of this awesome conversation. So in this clip, Joel talks with Kids Spirit contributor, Sybille, who is from Haiti, about how young people can take action. Here it is.

Joel Sartore I always say start at home. Start in your own backyard. Let’s talk about planting native plants and nectar-bearing plants to help support bees and butterflies. Those, that’s a huge deal. It’s cheap. It’s fun. It’s good for the air you breathe. It’s good for the water people drink because those native plants cannot tolerate herbicides. Let’s start planting native gardens.

Maya I love that. It is such an empowering way to think about conservation. And I want to share one more inspirational moment from the interview where Joel asks Sybille a few questions about herself and then offers some advice.

Joel Sartore I have a question for you. How old are you?

Sybille Oh, I’m 16.

Joel Sartore Well, you’re way ahead of where I was when I was 16. I mean,

Joel Sartore the fact that you’re really into the issues and you have a real conscience about killing lanternflies, stinking awesome. That’s great. And that’s the whole ballgame is to walk around, keep an open mind, learn what you can from good people, find mentors, people that are doing the kind of work you want to do, and then become really invaluable to them. Be so good they cannot afford to ignore you, right? And you’re going to do great things. So I really appreciate this. I’ve enjoyed this a lot. The time has flown by.

Sybille Thank you so much for saying that.

Maya Whoa, how fantastic that Sybille was able to talk to world-famous conservationist and photographer Joel Sartore, and we hope that you enjoyed this peek into their exchange. So in your experience, how can young people make a difference in their community?

Finn Well, I think it’s easier than most kids think to get out there and do what they want to do. I think the main problem is that they don’t know how, and so that’s exactly why we’re doing this. A good way for kids to get out is to contact organizations that they’re interested in. Like I myself, I can say I’m lucky at my school, I had the opportunity to participate in a chips food drive, or we made peanut butter jelly sandwiches. So that’s what I’ve been able to do. And again, just to recap, kids can just email people and they can do little things like go out with their friends and pick up garbage. They can do all sorts of things.

Maya Yeah, I totally hear that. I feel like it’s just about finding the places where you meet other people who align with your values. I think for me, like when I was in high school, I did certain things with my synagogue. So like I was able to like help in the classrooms and then I volunteered with the cantor to help with the children’s choir. And what was amazing about KidSpirit was that it became this wonderful place where I could reflect on all of those experiences within my writing. So I really appreciated that. Finn, it has been so great talking to you. Thank you so much for joining me on this conversation about crisis and change and how teens navigate this. I really appreciate it.

Finn Well, thank you. It’s been really interesting.

Maya Thank you all for joining us today on ListenUp! the KidSpirit podcast. It is the place to be for conversations on life’s big questions. We want to hear from you. If you have anything that you would like to share, please, please email us at info at kidspiritonline.com. Thank you so much for joining us today.

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