"I'm crazy about journalism, as I love being able to open people's eyes to unique events and powerful ideas in the world around them."
"Actions in Spotlight has encouraged me to learn more about why these inequalities exist and how society can resolve them through the implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals."
"Actions encourages other young people to learn more and speak out for the causes they support; our voices will be heard."
"Actions in Spotlight has encouraged me to learn more about why these inequalities exist and how society can resolve them through the implementation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals."
"Actions encourages other young people to learn more and speak out for the causes they support; our voices will be heard."
Nonfiction in response to Partnerships for the Goals
May 2019
When I was little, my teachers taught my peers and me skills like adding and subtracting, reading and writing. They also taught us other skills like sharing with each other, talking about our problems, and negotiating solutions. These are basic principles...
By Georgia Bernbaum
May 2019
Nonfiction in response to Partnerships for the Goals
To achieve all 16 goals, the United Nations put forth the 17th goal which encourages collaboration between public and private sector to achieve the goals.Schools, public or private, play an important role to help achieve this 17th goal. They should prepare the future...
By Grace Muresan
Fiction
Fiction in response to Zero Hunger
February 2018
Riiiiiing! I sigh as I hear the familiar tone of my alarm clock. My stomach grumbles as I turn in my bed and groggily stare at the time. It’s 6:30. Time to go. Rising from my bed, I shiver. The cool morning chill is much different...
By Kelsey Cashman
Fiction in response to Zero Hunger
February 2018
It was raining. Again. The boy ducked into a nearby ally, small hands raised over his head. There, he crouched down atop a crate, chest heaving. His dark, matted hair hung over his face, covering most of his chocolate-brown eyes...
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By Caroline Sun
March 2018
Fiction in response to Good Health and Well-being
I had always thought that secrets were the most dangerous thing that could spread. Until I met Ari. The first time I heard his name we were dancing. Not together, but in the same place, at the same gathering, united by the sort...
By Ilana Arougheti
March 2018
Fiction in response to Good Health and Well-being
I walk down the hall to the pantry and open the door. As they do every time, my hopes rise for a second at the thought that there will be something in there, something besides the stacks of processed snack foods, but I am once again disappointed...
By Kelsey Cashman
Fiction in response to Quality Education
April 2018
Fiction in response to Good Health and Well-being
March 2018
“There are starving kids in Africa who want that bread!” My mom yells after me as I race out the door, backpack swinging.
I roll my eyes. “Then give it to them,” I mutter under my breath.
I pull on my shoes, stomping fiercely on the...
By Caroline Sun
The boy got up especially early today. He has been looking forward to today for almost 2 months now. The local school in his village is hosting a literary festival for the children, giving them a chance to read classic books and meet authors from the city...
By Colin Yuan
Fiction in response to Gender Equality
May 2018
Fiction in response to Gender Equality
May 2018
I shivered at the night breeze that nipped at my thin dress. But I slipped along. I have to do this.The packed-together houses -If they could be called that- were ominously silent and dark even though many people lived there, but my familiar house...
By Grace Muresan
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I need to get away. Thoughts crash through my head, an angry torrent of voices. I head towards the door, hands clenching and unclenching. “Honey!” my mom calls from the kitchen. “Honey, where are you going?”
By Caroline Sun
Fiction in response to Clean Water & Sanitation
June 2018
Fiction in response to Affordable and Clean Energy
July 2018
Week 1
Dear Mummy,
I hope you and Eliza are safe on the home front. I would like to
say that I am fine here, but things are rough.
The solar panel is the gladdest morning person and the ultimate go-getter; its deepest instinct is to soak up the world on sight. It squirrels away each glint and gleam, eager in the face of eternal radiation...
By Grace Muresan
By Ilana Arougheti
Fiction in response to Affordable and Clean Energy
July 2018
I left the lights on while we were away. Not a big deal, we thought.
Jamie left the tap running while he brushed his teeth. It doesn’t matter, we figured. Mom forgot to turn off the gas. The house didn’t burn down, so we were fine, we guessed...
By Grace Muresan
Fiction in response to Decent Work and Economic Growth
August 2018
I live in a nice house, go to a good school and have new clothes. I always come home to a big dinner and go to bed full. It is hard for me to imagine experiencing poverty. Poverty is defined as the act of being extremely poor, which...
By Georgia Bernbaum
Fiction in response to Decent Work and Economic Growth
August 2018
10 different job attempts in the past month. Each one less paying and more desperate than the previous, yet still unable to hire someone like me. “This job is… just not right for you,” says each shift manager, each hiring executive after a few days of work...
By Caroline Sun
Fiction in response to Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Sep 2018
Nobody ever went to school during the winter or when it rained, because the building was rickety, and it let in all sorts of bad weather.For example, today: Shufen was sitting at home, helping Ma-ma clean house. She wanted to go to school, but ...
By Karen Wu
Fiction in response to Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Sep 2018
dear diary,
i found a book yesterday, lying in the trash heap outside our village. it was unlike any other book i had ever read or seen. why anyone would throw it away, i could not imagine! the cover was...
By Caroline Sun
Fiction in response to Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Sep 2018
The ninth goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development goals is to build infrastructure, promote industrialization and encourage innovation. Government members and non-government organization members have been committed to...
By Georgia Bernbaum
Fiction in response to Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Sep 2018
Every day, I walk 8 miles for water. To the well for a bucket, and back home again. My legs ache until I can’t feel them, my mouth is so dry I can’t talk, and by the time I pass the fallen tree a mile from my home, I feel like I can’t walk any further. The pot of water I...
By Grace Muresan
Fiction in response to Reduced Inequalities
October 2018
Whiiirrr whiiirr.
The camera clicks on, its blood red eye blinking in sudden birth. The image shifts slightly, then zooms in on the slouched form of a man, wearing a rumpled black suit...
By Caroline Sun
October 2018
“Papa?” I looked up at him. “Good luck.” “Don’t you worry ‘bout me, baby,” he said in his trademark deep voice. He crouched down to hug me. I went up the stairs to the bedroom I shared with my three-year-old brother, Jaymore, as Mama said her goodbyes...
By Grace Muresan
October 2018
“Leon!”
Leon looked around and saw his friend, David, waving at him. He rolled his wheelchair up to David.
“Hey, man,” he said. “Is Sam here yet?"
By Karen Wu
Fiction in response to Reduced Inequalities
Fiction in response to Reduced Inequalities
Fiction in response to Sustainable Cities and Communities
Nov 2018
I want a beard like his. I examine the painting critically, narrowing my eyes thoughtfully. The portrait, no doubt painted by one of the finest artists in the Empire, depicts the face of a middle-aged noble sporting a bushy brown beard. His strong, defined chin is...
By Caroline Sun
Walking down the city street, I press my mask to my face to protect me from the thick smog. All around me, people cough, struggling to keep the bad air out of their lungs. The buildings rise all around me, but I can barely read the street addresses...
By Kelsey Cashman
Fiction in response to Sustainable Cities and Communities
Nov 2018
Nov 2018
I awoke to the sound of a howl, unearthly and screeching. My eyes snapped open and I sucked in a long, panicked breath. Where was I? My quick gaze registered the unfamiliar room, the crisp white blankets, the empty walls. Where were my favorite boyband...
By Caroline Sun
Fiction in response to Sustainable Cities and Communities
Fiction in response to Responsible Consumption and Production
Dec 2018
Two planets down.
It isn’t just a game or a mission. It’s our lives. When my grandparents took off in the first wave of explorer rovers, nearly 40 years ago, the concept of finding two more habitable planets
By Ilana Arougheti
Jan 2019
Fiction in response to Climate Action
Hi! I’m Georgia and I am 9 years old, and I live with Flora, my 12-year-old sister and my parents in Panama City, Florida.
Life is great for us because Florida is always warm and we can go to the beach every day. Life is good, even though we don’t have any...
By Grace Muresan
Feb 2019
Fiction in response to Life Below Water
It started out as a regular day, just as all others, little out of the ordinary other than the news about “Hurricane Micheal” and the heavy rain outside. Suddenly, though, while I was in the gym suffering through PE, all the lights went out and immediately kids...
By Grace Muresan
Fiction in response to Life Below Water
Feb 2019
The first time you went to the beach was the first time your mind really went blank. Not in a scary or sad or science-fiction kind of way, just that the crash of the tide rumbled so insistent that there was no room for anything else. No matter how long you stared the..
By Ilana Arougheti
Feb 2019
Fiction in response to Life Below Water
Dear humans,
I would say it's not you it is me, but it is not. No matter how much I do for you, you never seem to notice. You depend on me for everything, and yet I get nothing in return. In fact, over 3 ...
By Georgia Bernbaum
Feb 2019
Fiction in response to Life Below Water
A splash of salty droplets mist against my face as the ocean waves gently crash against our boat. The black rubber of my wetsuit compresses my body, and the heavy oxygen tank weighs down my back as I sit waiting for our scuba guide to finish his basic...
By Kelsey Cashman
Mar 2019
Fiction in response to Life On Land
“For generations, our people have lived on these islands in the Caribbean. The forests have always been there for us, to provide shelter and food in the darkest of times, and now these large companies from the mainland want to take them away for profit!”
By Grace Muresan
May 2019
Fiction in response to Partnerships for the Goals
My grandmother used to say that each new day brought a unique surprise to look forward to. The only surprises that are ever waiting for me, however, are not the pleasant kind: dirty tables to wipe, screaming customers, spilled food trays. Oh, and there was that...