
Helping Young People Find Their Positive Power
At Brown University, Zoe Fuad ’23.5 (USA, UWC of South East Asia) and fellow student Carina Sandoval ’23 are the co-founders of Revive, a venture that provides middle- and high-schoolers with a yearlong program of intergenerational training and mentorship in youth advocacy. Students are then placed with social-impact organizations that align with their interests, so they can learn from local activists and community members.
“Youth under the age of 19 are often those most impacted by structural injustices,” Zoe explains, “yet they’re also the most neglected when it comes to enacting change.” Revive aims to help young people find their interests, build leadership skills, and grow more confident in their ability to achieve positive impacts. “Growing up,” Zoe recalls, “it rarely occurred to me how I could use my own voice to speak up against the injustices I saw in my day-to-day. It wasn't until meeting Carina, along with a number of youth much braver than I, that I saw how critical young voices could be in spearheading change. I saw, too, what it means to begin imagining different futures — along with what it means to imagine different means of achieving it.
“Traditional schooling doesn't offer the tools necessary for this change-making, nor this imagining,” she adds. “It was from this absence that Revive was born — to support students in achieving what they're uniquely able to do. We hope to amplify and uplift the lived experiences, knowledge, and opinions of our youth in strengthening their communities.”