In the following videos from the Edge Young Changemaker series, three inspiring young changemakers share how they’re impacting their communities and the world.
Aliyah York
“You can be an ordinary person but do extraordinary things.”
Aliyah founded Pupil Power when she was 16 years old after attending the NEU Together for Education conference in Westminster in June 2019. As she was the only young person at the conference, she saw this as an opportunity to spark change and elevate the voices of those often forgotten. Today, Pupil Power is a student-led movement of hundreds of young changemakers across the country aiming to educate and engage young people on educational policy that affects them and their experience of school. Proving that age isn’t a limit, Aliyah balanced her A-levels whilst spearheading this national campaign.
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Jaiden Corfield
“My biggest advice for finding your inner changemaker voice is to identify the impact that you wish to have on the world, associate your passions with your voice, and lift that voice to create change.”
Jaiden is an activist, community leader, and proud Mancunian. He is the co-designer of Rekindle School, a youth-built supplementary school in Manchester, and founder of Outliers, a mental health charity focusing on promoting mental wellbeing amongst boys and young men through discussions, programmes, and after schools clubs across Greater Manchester.
Rekindle places nurture, support, achievement, and protection at the forefront of everything. It aims to provide young people from working class and ethnic minority backgrounds the opportunity to feel valued by education, and therefore fall back in love with it.
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Megan Thoms
“Schools of Tomorrow allows young people to see themselves as more than just a student in the system. It’s quadrant model focuses on wellbeing, effective preparation for the future, effective family and community engagement, and achievement.”
Megan is an Ambassador of Tomorrow for the national network Schools of Tomorrow. With a Bachelor of science degree in Politics and Sociology, Megan has worked with Schools of Tomorrow as a student leader and now as an intern and youth advisor. Her role includes programme development, fundraising, and leading the youth track of the Sustainable Education Summit, March 2022.
For additional inspiration, please visit our Young Changemakers playlist on YouTube: Young Changemakers - YouTube