The “Philanthroteens,” more widely known as Gen Z, don’t get their nickname from just anywhere. We like to utilize organizations such as Change.org and GoFundMe to donate and raise awareness to causes that need more recognition. We as a society, have faced so many rough patches this year, and Gen Z has decided it’s time for a change.

Loralei HoJay is a freshman in college, majoring in Political Sciences with a focus in Public Policy. Three months ago, HoJay made a petition titled  “Justice for Breonna Taylor” and it now has over 11 million signatures. A member of the generation herself, HoJay believes that the future is in great hands

“Gen Z is willing to acknowledge the faults in our systems and recognize the need for improvement,” says HoJay. “I wouldn’t call Gen Z the most impactful generation just yet — while we are wildly passionate about calling out the faults in our society, we have yet to take action to correct those faults, though I do believe that we will in the future.”

Loralei suggests that although Gen Z has the motivation and potential to change the world, we don’t have the horsepower just yet.  

“I find that our generation harnesses most of their strength from passion and hope,” says HoJay. “I think older generations tend to force themselves to stomach a status quo in America that simply doesn’t work for the average American.”

Here, HoJay implies that older generations such as Gen X and Baby Boomers, are ignoring the world’s problems in order to keep things as they are. Gen Z however, uses their “passion and hope” to try and acknowledge and correct the defects in our society.

Aliceyn Smith, an Echoes reporter, also believes that Gen Z will bring change.

¨A lot of people in the generation have already shown they are willing to do things like protest and share their opinions to have their voices heard,¨ Smith said. ¨I think Gen Z is all for equality and embracing diversity.¨

Sarah Steinmetz, the TAG Seminar teacher at AL, said that any generation could make a change for the better.

“I think that every generation has the potential to change the world,” Steinmetz said. “I just feel like the most knowledgeable people should be leaders, age doesn’t really matter.”

Steinmetz doesn’t seem to care about the generation our future leaders belong to. She believes that as long as our leaders are intelligent and educated, the age group doesn’t make any difference.

Whether you believe that Gen Z will be the saviors of our world, or that it doesn’t matter which generation you’re in, we can all agree on one thing;  let’s build and hope for a better future.