You Can Change the World Contest

“What can you do to motivate social activism and involvement amongst your friends and schoolmates?” was the question that Moment posed in our annual “You Can Change the World” high school contest. We were looking for answers that were thoughtful, creative and demonstrated a commitment to serving others. Our winner, 17-year-old Allison Slatkin of Potomac, Maryland, wrote a moving essay about her work with veterans and how it inspired her fellow students. We also recognize two finalists. Sneha Banerjee of Staten Island, New York, organized student protests against the use of heating oil in her hometown. Sydney Rae Appelbaum of New York City shared her experience of meeting students from Sderot, Israel, which gave her the idea to start the Save Sderot Club at her high school. “Thomas Friedman refers to my generation as Generation Q, for quiet,” Appelbaum writes. “If I were to label my generation with a “Q,” I would call us Generation Quest because I believe that my age group is on a groundbreaking social activism journey.” Click here to read the finalists' essays.

Shadowing my friend as she worked at Bethesda Naval Hospital, I saw first-hand the many returning soldiers, their limbs lost and minds altered. Whether I have supported the war in Iraq was irrelevant; the reality is that American soldiers are over there fighting every single day. Whether we win or lose this war, lives changed, families changed, futures changed. An entire generation of men will forever be on a different path than they had planned. I thought about this when I learned that the cafeteria is closed on weekends to the soldiers’ families. It seemed wrong that the little time they have to visit is cut short because families have to leave to get their
own lunch.

I decided to support our troops by creating an organization at my high school called Serving Our Soldiers. My fellow students and I serve lunch to the soldiers, their families and the working staff at the hospital one weekend a month. We visit with the soldiers while they eat, and we hear their stories of physical, mental and emotional trauma. Some have wounds that may never be healed by medical treatment and interventions.

At the same time as I founded the club, I was starting to work on my senior independent project, an in-depth research paper for the Humanities and Arts Signature Program at my high school. I learned that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has always been a fact of war and decided to focus on it. Whether it is called “shell shock,” “battle fatigue” or PTSD, its impact is devastating. It was astonishing to find out that about one in three soldiers returning from Iraq seeks help for psychological problems. The more I researched this topic, the more I felt a responsibility to help the soldiers.

My dedication to Serving Our Soldiers makes the idea of being involved more tangible to my friends. Many want to help and now have the opportunity to really make a difference. After just one trip to the hospital, students literally see the price these soldiers have paid. Serving Our Soldiers has made the students extremely attached to the patients. They continually ask me, “what else can I do?” or “when are we going again?” I am proud of the enthusiasm of my peers and know that they care about the world. —Allison Slatkin