Just Leave it to the Kids Trivia Quiz

Answer: Surviving a school shooting

Along with many of their schoolmates, Gonzáles was present in the auditorium of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018, when a former student of the school activated a fire alarm and then shot at the students leaving the building with a semi-automatic weapon, killing 17.

In the aftermath of the attack, Emma Gonzáles took leadership of the protesting youth, culminating in their "We call B. S." speech, a slogan that became a motto for anti-violence activists as well as a second speech at the March For Our Lives protest a month after the shooting.

The students achieved several immediate results in favor of tightening Florida's gun control laws, including raising the age limit for owning weapons to 21.

Together with fellow student survivors, they founded "Never Again MSD", a gun control advocacy group whose primary aim is to prevent all further such mass casualty events at schools and similar institutions. The core activists were shortlisted for "Time Person of the Year 2018" in fourth place in recognition for their impact.

(Note: Emma Gonzáles prefers the "they" pronoun, so the question text has been written in accordance with their wishes).

Answer: Rosa Parks

While Rosa Parks is the household name, the Montgomery bus boycott actually started nine months earlier, with the same refusal by 15-year-old Claudette Colvin to give up her seat to a white person, in support for a pregnant woman who was sitting next to her and also asked to vacate her seat. While the pregnant lady was quickly re-seated due to the courtesy of a black male, Colvin stayed put to make a statement and was removed from the bus and arrested.

At the time of her protest, Colvin was already a member of NAACP and Rosa Parks was her mentor. Parks herself famously repeated the same sequence of events in December and also was arrested, leading to the bus boycotts and, subsequently, the court decisions that abolished segregation.

The fact that Parks, not Colvin, became the primary representative of the movement, was partially due to the fact that she was so young and vulnerable and would not have been a good candidate to withstand the intense public pressure. It was not until the 21st century that her contribution became more widely known. In Montgomery, March 2 was declared a municipal remembrance day in her name in 2017.

Answer: A diary

When Anne Frank was arrested by the Nazis in August 1944, the diary that she had kept for two years since her 13th birthday, was left behind and preserved by her father's secretary in the hopes of returning it to her. Sadly, this was not to happen, but her father Otto survived the concentration camp and, in 1947, arranged for the diary to be published.

Most of the text covers the time that Anne and her family had spent hiding in a secret annex to a house in Amsterdam and thus provides one of the most detailed and authentic accounts of life under the Holocaust that exist. In the earlier editions, some passages of text that covered sensitive family and personal issues had been omitted, but the full text has now been reconstructed, although some of the most sensitive passages continue to be omitted or paraphrased in publications.

Shortly before being deported, Anne wrote "I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions." - but, in the same entry, she also concluded with "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart". Let us hope that, in spite of the first being seen every day, everywhere, the second is also true.

Answer: Film

"A Promising Africa" was Oduwole's first successful work that was shown in movie theaters after premiering in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2014. She directed, edited and produced the film entirely by herself - and that at the age of 12, making her the youngest person to ever achieve this.

Even at the age of 10, she had already personally interviewed several heads of state and, by 2021, had been invited to confer with over 30 heads of state or government to discuss girls' education and the issues that surround it such as child marriage. Besides her work as a filmmaker, Oduwole is also very active as a speaker and author for TED.

Answer: Hazardous drinking water

In 2014, the water supply for the city of Flint was switched to a local source to save costs. However, this proved to be catastrophic as the water was of poor quality and additionally, more acidic than the previous supply, leading to old lead pipes corroding and widely polluting the water supply. It took until late 2015 for any action to be taken and even in spring 2016, there were still massive issues with bottled water distribution so that residents could have safe drinking water.

A letter by then 8 year old Mari Copeny to President Obama triggered a visit by the President to Flint, as well as national awareness to the crisis. Copeny remained a very active fighter for the cause in the years after, including a successful fundraiser to continue bottled water supply for still-affected households in 2018 when free water by the state was discontinued.

Gitanjali Rao, a Colorado resident was just 11 when she heard of the crisis and was inspired by it developed a cheap mobile device for easily detecting lead in drinking water and has since gone on to develop other smartphone-based solutions employing artificial intelligence. In 2020, "Time" Magazine named her the inaugural "Kid of the Year" (although she was in a way the second honoree as the 2019 Person of the Year was, for the first time, a teenager, whom we shall look at later in this quiz.)

Answer: menstrual hygiene products

Even in an industrialized country with a functioning social system like the United Kingdom, poorer girls and women have problems affording sufficient basic products to deal with their period because those products tend to be relatively expensive on the open market. For female students who lack them, this means either missing out of several days of school per month or wearing them for extended times, not only risking highly embarrassing moments, but also their health.

Amika George began her campaign with a petition to Parliament that was quickly signed by over 200,000 people. When this alone did not lead to the desired legislation, the campaigners started a legal process in early 2019, and, by April of the same year, funding was agreed. Beginning January 2020, secondary schools in the UK have been able to order free products to distribute to girls who can not otherwise afford them.

Answer: Syria

Aged 7, Bana al-Abed began tweeting about the war and cruelties in Aleppo, Syria, after her school was destroyed by a bomb strike. Her direct, unmasked pictures and words quickly gathered not only public attention but that of several world leaders as well. After the 2016 Aleppo offensive succeeded, an evacuation initiative to let civilians leave the city stalled until an intervention by the Turkish foreign minister allowed it to proceed, at least partially prompted by Bala and her mother.

Bala and her family were evacuated to Turkey and granted citizenship there in early 2017, but she, along with her family, continues to remind the world about one of the worst wars of the 21st century.

Answer: Soviet Union

In 1982, when Yuri Andropov became the new leader of the Soviet Union, 10-year-old Samantha Smith was very concerned because the news coverage of Andropov at the time was rather critical. She decided to directly write a personal letter to the Secretary General and it was published by Pravda, the main Soviet newspaper. A few months later, she actually received a personal reply by Mr. Andropov and she was invited to the Soviet Union as Andropov's personal guest. She was recognized in both countries as a "Goodwill Ambassador" and also traveled to Japan to confer with the country's prime minister. Exchanges of further juvenile ambassadors followed with various countries while Samantha became a media personality, most well known for her coverage of the 1984 US elections aimed at children.

When she returned home from a filming day in 1985, the plane she was on crashed short of the runway in bad weather. Foul play was initially suspected due to her level of fame, but the crash was ultimately ruled entirely accidental. Her example, however, still lives on and continues to inspire young people today.

Answer: Friday

Much like Claudette Colvin, Greta Thunberg was a lone protestor at first, but did not stay alone for long. It all began when, in 2018, she decided to skip school on Fridays, instead spending the time protesting against climate change in front of the Swedish Parliament - at that time, a single lone figure with a home-made placard. Her example quickly spread, however, and soon "Fridays for Future" demonstrations led and organized by students would happen in many cities around the world, all representing the younger generation who, among the currently living, stands to be impacted most by man-made climate change.

In some countries (Germany, for example), the demonstrations have initially been dismissed as "oh, it's just kids using a convenient excuse to skip school", but in reality, that's not the case. Participating students still have to study their subjects to pass tests and in addition, they spend their time organizing their protests (learning skills not typically taught in school in the process, too).

I will leave describing the details of Ms. Thunberg's engagement and many achievements to an excellent quiz on her already on the site - no need to repeat that, but she's a prime example that a lack of age does not have to get in the way of leading change - to the contrary!

Answer: Malala Yousafzai

While all of the mentioned have been very active for education, I am of course talking of Malala Yousafzai. Malala had been active on promoting better education opportunity for girls in Taliban-dominated Pakistan ever since age 11. A year later, in 2009, Taliban closed her school, prompting her to take up activism and quickly gaining in influence. Three years later, in 2012, she received life-threatening injuries from a murder attempt where she courageously identified herself to the would-be shooter who wanted to specifically kill her to protect the others in the room.

After the shooting, she was moved first to Germany and then to the United Kingdom for treatment. She completed her secondary education in the UK from where she also further pursued and increased her internationally acclaimed work for children's and especially girls' rights.