On Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, students from FHS and HHS marched to Sunnyvale City Hall, protesting the Trump administration’s recent actions against illegal immigration. While events like this might seem rare, activism is becoming much more common, especially among teenagers.
Teen activism is nothing new; it has existed for hundreds of years. Teens protested child labor in the 1830s, advocated for civil rights in the 1950s and protested the Vietnam War in the 1970s. So why is widespread activism so much more common in the 21st century?
A 2018 study by Orb Media found that, in 2016 and 2017, young people were between nine to 17% more likely to participate in informal political activities, like protests, than adults over the age of 40. This marked a sharp increase from the early 2000s, when younger people were only 3% more likely to participate compared to their older counterparts. Overall, this data represents a six to 14% increase in youth participation in social justice.
This significant increase in political engagement over one generation can be boiled down to two main factors. One factor that plays a significant role in political engagement is awareness of issues through social media. Roughly 60 percent of Gen Z regularly get news updates from social media platforms. Social media presents politics and social issues in a way that is accessible to young people, especially considering that the average teenager in the U.S. spends roughly five hours on social media every day.
Awareness alone is not enough to drive youth activism, young people need to care about the causes. Today’s social issues, like climate change and social justice, are more relevant to their lives, making them more motivated to act.
As one of the youngest generations, their lives will likely stretch well into the end of the 21st century, which means they will experience a lot more of the impacts of issues like climate change, so the issue is much more relevant to them.
Since 2020, there has been an increase in social activism regarding a variety of societal issues. Since President Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, the U.S. saw a sudden spike in rallies, with thousands of people extremely upset with the new leadership. In particular, Trump has been focusing on mass deportations to combat illegal immigration, which became evident after Immigration Customs Enforcement began raiding schools, homes and cities to search for undocumented immigrants. The U.S. Latino community has been the primary target of these actions, and with FHS being 42.5% Latino, a large amount of the student body was angry with what was happening. An organized protest was held on Feb. 5, where hundreds of FHS students marched out of class during their fifth block to protest the immigration policies. At FHS, many teachers — although forced to mark the protesters absent — supported what they were doing.
“Change begins with the youth,” FHS English teacher Jenna Morgan said. “So if the youth don’t care about injustices or oppressive regimes or anything else that is unfair in their minds, then, how do we expect older people to care about it?”
This instance was not the only time a protest has happened at FHS. As such, FHS has procedures in place to protect students and make sure that protesting is done in a safe way. During the protest, administrators and a law enforcement officer were present throughout the demonstration to ensure students’ safety.
“As a school, we have the operations that we need to do, encouraging [students] to not do things that are problematic, but to share their voice, and do it in a safe way,” FHS principal Bryan Emmert said.
Protests and rallies continue to become more common forms of activism, and resistance to recent government actions is at an all-time high. It is unlikely for this trend to fade soon, and one can only wait and see what the next few years have in store, and how the FHS community will respond.
