# 'Really Excited, Really Scared': Vermont teens on the state of the world

Free with YouTube's ads, posted by Vermont Public.

This year has felt like a roller coaster in so many ways. We’ve been through a heated political campaign season, and the United States turned 250 over the summer in the middle of a war that we’re waging on the other side of the world. We hear a ton of people talking about politics and government and all the challenges of living in the U.S. right now, but hardly any of those voices belong to teenagers — like Zoya, who’s 15.

“Sometimes when I sit down and think about everything that’s happening, it’s so overwhelming and it’s so scary,” she says. “It feels hopeless for us because we don’t have a vote, and a lot of times we don’t really have a say. Like, people won’t really listen to us.”

Over the summer, Two Daughters Productions talked with a group of Vermont teenagers about how they’re feeling and what they’re thinking. They told us they feel overwhelmed and frustrated and sometimes dismissed by the adults around them. But they’re also calling up the governor’s office, advocating for themselves and other kids, and pushing their schools to listen to what they have to say.

From Nora, 18: “This is gonna sound, like, so stereotypical, but I wanted to be the change that, like, I wanted to see.”

This story is produced by Jennifer Sutton of Two Daughters Productions, with help from Elissa Pine.

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- What it is: Film
- Length: 47 min
- Rights holder: [Vermont Public](https://www.vermontpublic.org/) (its site links the channel: https://www.vermontpublic.org/)
- Channel: [Vermont Public](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkriCw5TsxVDoqOoyMcb28g)
- Plays: Wherever YouTube plays: its rights holder sets no limit
- Who can watch here: Adult profiles and older (no rating is recorded on YouTube, so adults only)
- Made for kids: No, as YouTube designates it
- On YouTube: [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSwZUnfCi9Q)

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