I remember being in elementary school, and going to camp over the summers. It was only a local day camp, but I had fun and made lots of friends. Specifically, I always wanted to be friends with the counselors. They all seemed so cool to me. Tall, gorgeous teenagers that radiated confidence like a sun. They just glowed so brightly, and chubby, 8-year-old me would've given up a limb to be like them. I just wanted to be a teenager. I wanted to be tall and pretty and drive around on warm summer nights, feeling the breeze through my hair. I wanted the viatality that they all seemed to possess. The thirst for all things good in life. Now, I'm 15, and a freshman in high school, and I have a totally different perspective. 

I want to change the world.

I no longer want to live in just my high school. Instead, I want to travel and try new things. I don't want to be blind to the things around me. I wish to be active in my community and even participate in local politics. The best part is that I have so many awesome teenagers to look up to. Emma Gonzalez, and the students of Majory Stoneman Douglas High School that are fighting for their rights that they know are their natural rights as actual members of society. Olympians like Nathan Chen and Chloe Kim that are crushing it in South Korea, and showing the rewards of extreme hard work and dedication. Teen Vogue, that isn't publishing about different ways to wear your hair anymore. Instead, they're publishing uplifting articles for young women of color, saying how beautiful their hair truly is. Teenagers are no longer self-absorbed, or ignorant. We are intelligent, strong, aware members of society and I couldn't be more proud of my generation at a time like this. We are breaking down thousands of barriers, and we're making a name for our selves because we won't be trampled by the generations around us any longer. We know what we need, and we're stepping up and taking it. We grew up with the phrase that kids are the future, and we are the living embodiment of it. I, as a 15-year-old girl, am fully prepared to conquer the world, and I'm esctatic to see what else my fellow teenagers will do this year. 2018 shall be known as the Year of the Teenager forevermore, and history will honor the amazing things that Generation Z is doing for this world and everyone in it.