To the editor:

“I am only 13 years old now, but why should that stop me from trying to create change?” That line caught my breath. Young people in the North Country can inspire us to do better.

They can inspire us to engage. “Most people want a government that works so smoothly that it is invisible; they do not want to think about it; but there are big risks to a community when citizens are not paying attention and take no interest.”

One young writer argued for a school newspaper so that students would be informed. “The truth is that we cannot make a difference if we do not know what is happening.” That argument holds true outside our schools, too.

This student assumes that we want to make a difference.

Alison King

Vermontville

(This letter is one in a series sharing the thoughts of young people in the North Country. The quotes are from the essays submitted to the contest “My Dreams for My Community,” sponsored by the Community Engagement Project of Adirondack Voters for Change and the Adirondack Center for Writing.)