President Obama said, "We've got to do everything we can to make sure that we are giving these young people opportunities to pursue their studies and discover new ways of doing things." Well, President Obama, we young makers will hold you to that promise.

I learned Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, fabric analysis, and how to construct garment tech packs (just to name a few skills). But the most important thing I learned is to always have a passion for whatever I pursue in life.

Trees are down all over my neighborhood and at night it is pitch dark, with only the moon as light. I feel paralyzed with cold. It is a freezing chill that goes deep to the bone and makes me worried about the future I can have on this planet.

"It serves to underscore that you never know where life's serendipitous path is going to take you," exclaimed fashion consultant Tim Gunn while sitting on the stage of New York City's Teen Design Fair.

Things that I found so simple I realized took time and effort for them to learn. Being around them and teaching them really gave my life purpose that year and allowed me to see that I was taking a lot in my life for granted.

My dream is to become a filmmaker. Whenever I watch movies, I watch the special features to see the movie-making process.

When I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity this summer to intern for Jay-Z and Pharrell's fashion houses, I was more than eager to accept the challenge.

If the video game industry ever wants to be perceived as high art by a larger mainstream culture, it must finally address the institutionalized sexism that has come to define the medium.

Technology isn't something I was interested in in until recently. In fact, the word "technology" didn't become a part of my vocabulary until I became a student at Hudson High School of Learning Technologies.

Have you ever had a moment where everything you've done leads to one choice that decides your future? If not, waiting for that choice is unexplainable.

Everyone was pumped to see all the projects youth have been working on, and the awesome keynotes, from people all over the tech industry. It was time for Emoti-Con! 2012!

By the end of the Hack Jam, youth and mentors alike carried a newfound understanding of the scope and power of freedom of speech.

We all attend the High School for Global Citizenship in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Around the school, there are different types of people -- it's like a mini-world in one neighborhood.

I experienced so much in my media class, including a trip to Germany, where I worked with other teens to produce a documentary. Through my experiences, I've grown as a person and media maker.

18-year-old Keith Salgado was out late on a Saturday night in Campos Plaza, a group of housing projects on the Lower East Side, when he was shot. Keith was still in high school, just like us, when he died.

The first time I got stopped by the police I was 14. I didn't know what was going on. I remember I had been hanging out with friends and it was getting kind of dark. I was walking alone up Avenue D in New York City and all of a sudden I heard the sound of a police car.