As teenagers living in the world today, we are inundated with pressure to improve ourselves. With social media hounding us about the importance of self-care and our high schools consistently emphasizing college preparation, our world seems to spiral more and more toward ourselves with every passing day.

Meanwhile, war rages in Ukraine, America tears at women’s abortion rights and the climate warms at a faster pace than ever.

As seniors eagerly awaited their Early Decision college results Dec. 10 and 11, many were oblivious to the tornado outbreak that struck the Midwest, killing 89 people over that same two-day period. As Putin invaded Ukraine in late February, students again were focused on college admissions, this time awaiting their regular decision results in March. 

It is important to find a balance between the events of our own lives and those that occur in others’, ensuring we still focus on our academic careers and personal lives while simultaneously remaining engaged with the greater world. As individuals, we owe it to ourselves to focus on our personal lives.

But we also owe it to ourselves to make sure that we stay in touch and remain conscious of the wider world we are growing up and existing in. We must open ourselves up to experience a variety of positions, perspectives and experiences.

After three years of covering local school news and observing trends among students for The Chronicle, we are calling for a mindset shift: Although each of us lives in the center of our own universe, it is crucial to remember that we, too, live in one another’s universes. 

We must practice empathy and awareness, and remember that staying engaged, active and attentive in a global community is key to our development as students and people,

 We live in a world dependent upon human interaction. To make a positive impact on our world, we must approach each of the interactions we have with an open mind, careful not to make conclusions quickly. Expanding perspective does not require posting an activist statement on Instagram, hanging a Ukrainian flag to show solidarity or even attending a local protest; rather, it implies belief in a world in which no single individual is the center but instead part of something larger, stitched into the fabric of the world itself.