Alex is a senior at St. Paul Academy. Last year he was involved in the Jewish Youth Organizing Leadership Team, and is excited about Seeds of Justice this year. “Social justice means the same thing Gandhi famously said: 'Be the change you want to see in the world.' This program will help us develop our views and opinions and give us a head start into what we can do as young adults to make a difference.”

Amalia is in 9th grade, and has been homeschooled since Kindergarten. Social action has always been fun for her, and not just one of those things that you do because you should. She wanted to be in Seeds of Justice because she wanted more of a chance to make a change in the world. Her hobbies are reading, writing, drama, and playing with her puppy. “This is the world I have to live my life in. Everything that I can do now to make the world better, helps others and helps my future too.”

Danny is a senior at Hopkins High School and wants to do Seeds of Justice because he thinks it will be a great learning experience and thinks the things he learns from the program will give him both connections and better experiences for a future career. “Social Justice is the morals and ethics of treating people in a society with dignity. I want to be part of creating a just world because it will allow me to give back to my community and make myself feel as though I accomplished something worthwhile.”

Evana is a junior at the Academy for Sciences and Agriculture High School, is an active member of the Future Farmers of America chapter at her school, and is an active USYer. She applied to be a fellow because it will be a great learning experience and a way to build better relationships with the other teens participating. “Social justice is important, because our world should be just. Social justice means fixing what needs to be fixed. In being part of this, I can help fix the world.”

Hannah is a senior at Henry Sibley High School. She is interested in exploring alternative mediums of youth voice as a way to further explore advocacy -- and sees Seeds of Justice as a way to do that. “Social justice means equality and representation for all people in all communities -- a voice for everyone. A just world equals a safer world. In an effort to create peace within communities and the larger world, we can't ignore populations that are losing hope and feeling disenfranchised, breeding anger and violence. I would like to be part of the solution.”

Jeanne is a junior at Henry Sibley High School. She applied to be in Seeds of Justice because she is interested in social justice and thought that this program seemed like a great opportunity to get more involved in it. “To me, social justice is helping the world and the community. It involves helping those who are less fortunate and making the world a fairer place. It is finding out why people live like they do and whether or not something should be or can be done about it. My family raised me to be aware of the treatment and conditions of people around me. I want to be part of this organization because I want to contribute to helping others and my community.”

Lea attends Central High School in St. Paul and is an exchange student from Serbia. She loves singing, music, performing arts, theater and movies. She wanted to be in Seeds of Justice because it will help her learn about the community here and she can use that experience in helping someone else, somewhere else. “When I hear ‘social justice’ I think about having the same rights and opportunities for everybody at anytime in any place. In Serbia, I deal with people who are against Hungarians (I am half Hungarian) every day. When I travel to neighboring countries like Croatia or Bosnia, then people judge me because they don’t like Serbians. I just try to speak with them, and try to prove that all people have a right to start from the same place. Being tolerant and without prejudice when talking with them, helps them change their minds and helps bring peace.”

Miriam attends Minnehaha Academy and has grown up with exposure to other cultures and people, and has learned to embrace the differences of others. She wants to find ways to apply what she knows and make a difference. “Justice is being allowed the freedom to speak and act as who you are without discrimination or prejudice. To me, social justice is a right for all people. Social justice means speaking up and taking action so that no one is denied their rights as human beings. I would like to be part of making this world just because there is so much ignorance, discrimination, misunderstanding, labeling, and marginalizing of people. When we end injustice and inequality, I think we could gain true peace from the understanding that you must gain to reach such a goal.”

Molly is a freshman at Henry Sibley High School and has been involved in film making for several years. She is very excited to be a part of Seeds of Justice, learning more about the world of advocacy combined with arts and culture. “To me, social justice is equality with fair and respectful treatment for all people across society. As a compassionate person, I feel social justice is essential to creating healthy communities; as a Jew I feel it is my duty to repair the world.”

Molly is a junior at Southwest High School in Minneapolis and she is very excited about being in Seeds of Justice. “Social justice means working towards achieving justice in every aspect of a community. I want to be part of creating a just world because I believe it can be done.”

Sasha is a junior at the Blake School and has done lots of community service before, but would love to learn about and help out with the roots of problems. She also hopes to become more connected to the Jewish community and the broader Minneapolis community. “Social justice to me means that everyone gets an equal chance to be a good person. I would like to be a lawyer some day so that I can help everyone get that chance, wherever they come from or whatever mistakes they have made in the past. I hope to learn how I can make this dream of mine become a reality through Seeds of Justice.”

Sasha thinks that Seeds of Justice will be an amazing, mind-opening experience, and believes that social justice helps people develop their voice. By developing her own voice, she hopes to add to the world. Sasha attends the School of Environmental Studies. “Social justice means that people have a voice, every single person has one. It’s all about giving people the education they need to figure out what they want their voice to say. By molding my voice I can add to the just world with my point of view.”

Talia is a junior at Main Street School for the Performing Arts, where she majors in music. She became interested in Seeds of Justice because she wanted to help out in her community after doing Or Tzedek in Chicago last summer. “To me, social justice is a necessary but often absent aspect of this world. It’s important that everyone has access to the same opportunities, and because not all people have access to those opportunities, it’s important that I help to change that by being part of creating a just world.”

Tess is a junior at St. Louis Park High School. She decided to get involved in Seeds of Justice because she wants to learn about and begin to work in the community to help with social justice. “To me, social justice is the idea of a world in which all people are treated fairly. Although this appears to be a slightly utopian concept, with even small steps, it can become more of a reality. It is important to me that I begin working for social justice, because for every person that helps, we are coming closer to our final destination, a just world. I want to be one to get up and take a stand.”