When you think of “activists” and “politicians,” you may think about great leaders like Barack Obama or Martin Luther King Jr., or about young people like Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate change activist, and Malala Yousafzai, the feminist activist from Pakistan. Some people only think about leaders from the past, or about professional politicians. But many of these activists, who organize and act to change public policy, can also inspire us to be our own leaders.

—Jalil Presley Rogers, Cristo Rey Boston, sophomore