Now THIS is digital citizenship

About a book by a 12-year-old activist (and her educator mom) who are showing us how it’s done

Olivia Van Ledtje, age 12, is a social media influencer but in a good way. A powerful way, actually. Spark Change: Making Your Mark in a Digital World — a new book she co-authored with her mom, teacher, speaker and education consultant Cynthia Merrill — explains what “powerful” means to a child and a whole lot of her peers.

Olivia tells the story of giving a talk two years ago in a western Massachusetts elementary school auditorium that was packed with students and teachers from 3 school communities. She writes that, after her talk, the students wanted to ask “loads of one-of-a-kind kid questions — the kind I can never feel fully prepared to answer.”

But this time she was really inspired by the questions she got and didn’t leave questioning her answers. “In fact, I felt proudest of my final one — so much so that it’s become a central message in all of my subsequent school visits.”

A student had asked her, “How does it feel to be famous?” “I didn’t even hesitate in my response,” Liv writes. “I’m not famous, I’m global!” she told him. And the packed auditorium erupted with cheering from her peers. “I was so grateful to those kids for encouraging and believing…