International Youth Day: Five Young People

Youth Time Family strives to develop relevant content to assist youth from every corner of the globe toward social responsibility and service to the world. Our mission lies in covering articles to help youth around the globe to dedicate their youth time to be active young citizens advocating for issues they care about in their communities.

To celebrate International Youth Day, we will refresh your memory with activists, scientists, athletes, businesswomen, writers, and entrepreneurs that we were fortunate enough to arrange interviews with.

Seeing through the history and importance of IYD

According to the United Nations (UN) this day gives an opportunity to celebrate and amplify young peoples’ voices, actions and initiatives, as well as their meaningful, universal and equitable engagement. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the commemoration will take place mostly online; podcast-style discussion that is hosted by youth for youth. The day is reserved to acknowledge the crucial role of youth participation in political, economic and social life processes.

Citing the same source, this year’s theme seeks to shed light on youth engagement through the following three interconnected streams:

• Engagement at the local/community level;
• Engagement at the national level (formulation of laws, policies, and their implementation); and,
• Engagement at the global level.

The first IYD was observed on 12 August, 2000, following the recommendation made in 1999, by the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth, then endorsed by the General Assembly.

Below you will find the extraordinary journeys of five wonderful young people that we interviewed. It was tough to pick, however I relished the reading and I guarantee you the same.

Five young people brightening our world

Sadhana Anantha- The Story Behind A 19-year Old Girl Who Created Diagnostic Test for Ebola Detection

Sadhana Anantha, only 19 at the time, has designed a simulation of the diagnostic test for this illness. The way she did it and the feedback afterwards brought her the title of 2016 National Young Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of the USA. An initiative she undertook to increase the public’s awareness of this issue and help students to understand more about how Ebola is diagnosed and treated.

Bright, hard-worker and one of only ten girls who were named a 2016 National Young Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of the USA, in this 2018 interview with Youth Time, she shares her inspiring journey.

To be able to make a lasting change on a community with all the disadvantages of poverty would be her ultimate goal.

The Story Behind A 19-year Old Girl Who Created Diagnostic Test For Ebola Detection

Akwasi Frimpong, Ghana’s First Skeleton Olympian

Akwasi Frimpong is a Dutch-Ghanaian sprinter, bobsledder, and skeleton athlete. Frimpong was raised in Ghana and later moved to the Netherlands. Now living in the United States, Akwasi is training for the upcoming winter Olympic Games in Beijing, which will happen in 2022. Akwasi has many dreams, but he doesn’t sit waiting for them to come true. His biggest focus is to win the very first Winter Olympic Games medal for his country Ghana. But that’s not the only one. Being a family man, Akwasi and his wife Erica are busy raising their daughter, Ashanti, while he accepts engagements as a public speaker and enjoys doing charity work and helping others.

Read HERE the full interview to find out more about this man of many talents.

Interview with Akwasi Frimpong, Ghana’s First Skeleton Olympian

IFEMME: Supporting Women Through Art

Two talented and brave women were featured in a 2017 Youth Time interview.

Viet Ha and her creative partner, Tetyana Kretova, from Ukraine are colleagues at the IE Business School and have known each other since 2013, when Tetyana started working at IE. As colleagues they have gotten on very well since both are goal-oriented and have ambitious objectives respecting recruiting the best students to study at IE.

“We are two women who aspire to change the world. We work at IE business school in Madrid and both believe that education is able to change lives and make a difference.” is how they briefly introduced themselves to Youth readers. In THIS interview, among many other things, they elaborate on how they combine being a businesswomen with art and charity.

IFEMME: Supporting Women Through Art

The Young People’s Laureate for London – An Interview with Momtaza Mehri

Not just a biochemist, but also a poet who cares about the young of today, Momtaza Mehri dedicates a fair amount of her time to bringing awareness through poetry that touches various subjects. In this interview he shares her growing up and what inspired her to work for an elevated awareness among the young people of today.

She aims to inspire young people to claim the poetry in their own lives and tap into it. From workshops and performances to judging competitions, she wants to involve them in the wider community of language-obsessed young people.

The Young People’s Laureate For London – An Interview With Momtaza Mehri

Science is a Wildly Creative Field – An Interview with Bestselling Author Sam Kean

Sam Kean is the New York Times bestselling author of five books, including The Bastard Brigade, The Dueling Neurosurgeons, and The Disappearing Spoon. His stories have appeared in The Best American Nature and Science Writing, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, and Slate, and his work has been featured on NPR’s “Radiolab,” “Science Friday,” “All Things Considered,” and “Fresh Air.”

He shares what does it mean for a writer to get the title of a New York Times bestselling author and many other interesting things in THIS interview.

Science is a Wildly Creative Field – An Interview with Bestselling Author Sam Kean

In honor of #InternationalYouthDay, Youth Time appreciates all the young people who were part of our stories. Eagerly awaiting to cover many more stories of the youth all around the globe.

Photos: Shutterstock, From the sources of YT / Photomontage: Martina Advaney

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