Today's teens share visions of 2009

The Class of 2009 entered kindergarten around the time the Taliban seized Afghanistan's capital and Madeleine Albright became the first female U.S. secretary of state. They were approaching puberty when the Sept. 11 terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

And by the time they started high school, U.S. troops had been in Iraq for more than two years.

They will graduate into a new world, one changed by a year filled with historic challenges, and hope. They enter a world shaped by the struggles of a deep recession and an increasingly unpopular war. They enter as part of a new generation of citizenship, many of the 18 year olds having participated in their first election, part of bringing the first black president to the White House.

As Middletown High senior Taylor Griffith wrote, "This year has confirmed that the Class of 2009 and beyond has the power to change things, and we have already begun."

The News Journal asked Griffith and peers across the state to share their visions for the coming year, answering how the political and economic changes in 2008 have impacted their plans for the future and what their greatest hopes are for 2009.

Read their responses:

'Changes have made me more aware and mindful ...'
Embrace Obama's ideals so 'all things are possible'
Fix problems one at a time, otherwise ride them out
Key for future is make college more affordable
Life's experiences prepare us to lead

Life's experiences prepare us to lead

To so many high school seniors, the "future" consists solely of the next four years: going to college, landing an internship, moving out of the house, and getting a real job.

But what I want to know about is the actual future, when the Class of 2009 will be the Moms and Dads, business CEOs and presidential candidates. What will the world, or just the U.S., be like when we are in charge?

I think the classes of 2009 and beyond will start the U.S. with a clean slate. We, the children of the 1990s, are the first truly "equal" generation, raised in classrooms covered with United Nations posters featuring a black kid, white kid, Asian kid, and a handicapped kid holding hands. We are the answer to the United States' problems; we will accept and implement the change the U.S. needs because we were raised with it.

We were raised to accept others and try new things. We were growing up when traditions were being thrown by the wayside, like when Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House, and when Barack Obama was elected the first black president. Like children do, we accepted the things going on around us as normal, and as a result we have become the most accepting and neutral generation that has ever existed. We have the ability to change our country for the better, because change is really all we have ever known, and that one and only factor will serve as our key to the world, giving us the ability to make the U.S. a role model again.

2008 has been an extremely influential year, politically, economically and historically. We have set new records, made mistakes and rewritten history books. Has 2008 affected my plans for the future? Yes, definitely. This year has confirmed that the Class of 2009 and beyond has the power to change things, and we have already begun.

Taylor Griffith is a senior at Middletown High School.

Photo caption: Taylor Griffith says accepting diversity makes her generation the first truly "equal" one and they are the answer to U.S. problems.