Millennials (otherwise known as Generation Y) were born between the years 1980 and 2000, which makes us all pretty young. I think that it is so spectacular that there are already so many inspirational people from the millennial generation. Here's a list so you can keep your eyes open for their incredible accomplishments in the future!
1. Malala Yousafzai, 19
At a very young age, Malala had a thirst for knowledge. When she was 10 years old, the Taliban began to control the Swat Valley and it had become the dominant socio-political force throughout much of northwestern Pakistan. Girls had been banned from attending school. At the age of 11 (in 2009), Malala started to blog anonymously on the Urdu language site of the BBC. She wrote about her life in the Swat Valley under Taliban rule, and about her desire to go to school. After that, she became an internally displaced person (IDP), forced to move hundreds of miles away.
Once she was able to return, she started her public campaign to go to school. Her activism resulted in a nomination for the International Children's Peace Prize in 2011. But not everyone agreed with her. On the morning of October 9, 2012, 15 year old Malala was shot by the Taliban. She luckily lived. In October 2014, Malala was named a Nobel Peace Prize winner. At age 17, she became the youngest person to receive this prize. Even now, she continues to fight for equal rights, not only in Pakistan, but hopefully everywhere.
2. Joshua Wong, 19
Joshua is a Hong Kong student activist who is the secretary general of Demosisto, a political party. Before that, he was the convenor and founder of the Hong Kong student activist group Scholarism. He led fellow Hong Kong students in a massive Occupy protest in 2014 that demanded genuine universal suffrage, under one country, two systems. Chinese state-run media and pro-government Hong Kong newspapers regarded Wong as an extremist who was opposing the government for no good reason. Wong was charged on November 27, 2014 with obstructing a bailiff clearing one of Hong Kong's three protest areas. Due to his influence in Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, he was named as one of TIME's Most Influential Teens of 2014, nominated for TIME's Person of the Year in 2014, and listed by Fortune as one of the world's greatest leaders in 2015.
3. Olivia Hallisey, 18
In 2015, Olivia Hallisey (then 17 years old) designed a low cost, portable test for Ebola. Hallisey's diagnostic for the Ebola virus offers results in less than 20 minutes and allows for rapid detection even when patients lack any symptoms. She wanted a simple and stable solution to a complex problem. She won the grand prize of the 2015 Google Science Fair with this groundbreaking invention. She even has given advice to young girls who want to pursue the scientific field or learn computing skills. She encourages girls to try it and to remind the girls that they don't have to feel naturally drawn or feel like they have a special talent for math or science, but just to "look at something they are interested in and then think how to improve something or make it more enjoyable or relate it to their interests." I think I see a bright future for this young lady if she keeps this up.
4. Martin Odegaard, 17
In May of 2015, soccer fans got a glimpse of the future when Odegaard subbed in for the reigning World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo in the second half of a La Liga match. This Norwegian prodigy became to youngest player to make the pitch for Real Madrid, the world's wealthiest soccer club. He was dubbed the "New Messi," but insisted the hype wouldn't go to his head. He seems like he will not be going away very soon, so you should watch his career.
5. Chloe Kim, 16
Chloe Kim is an elite American snowboarder, currently sponsored by Target. She is too young to compete in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, she did earn a silver in superpipe in the 2014 Winter X Games. With this win, at age 14, Kim became the youngest gold medalist until she lost this record to Kelly Sildaru (who won the gold at the age of 13). In the 2016 X Games, Kim became the first person under the age of 16 to win three gold medals (and thus the first such person to win back-to-back gold medals) at an X Games. Also in 2016, she became the first American woman to win a gold medal in snowboarding at the Winter Youth Olympic Games, and earned the highest snowboarding score in its history.
There are of course so many other people. Here are a couple honorable mentions if you want more: Rowan Blanchard (14), Ashima Shiraishi (15), Kim Kataguiri (20), and Malia Obama (18). If you want an even longer list click here.
