One of the most interesting groups of young people, probably the youngest in the conference,that I had the chance to meet is from the United World College of the Adriatic.

Andrea, Justin, Esther and Paolo are 16-17 years old teenagers eager to make a change.

The United World College, aside from being an educational institute as any other high school,sets itself the goal of promoting Peace, Cultural understanding and a Sustainable Future- allthat through formal and informal education. It has 13 branches around the world, and its students, from 85 countries around the world, are being selected by special committees in their home-countries, and are given full scholarships for their studies, in order to assure everyone who should be accepted are given an equal opportunity.

Justin joined the college in order to see the world, and get a deeper sense of involvement. Paolo was looking for a different environment and was eager to mix his past with new experiences. And both Esther and Andrea found that meeting new people from all over the world is an extraordinary experience.

The four youngsters have a very clear message they wish to promote these days here in Bari. Mainly, they want to share their experience, in which they learned that cultural differences, age gaps, and even communicational and language barriers simply don't matter!

What matters is we are all part of this world, and are all eager to make a change, one way or another!

It's quite amazing how naïve you can be at the age of 17. But it's even more amazing to manage to keep at least some of that innocence as you go through life, mature, and learn more and more about this world.

I believe that Esther, Paolo, Justin and Andrea are not only here to promote the issues mentioned above, which we all find incredibly important. They are also here to remind us all how we truly believed at the age of 17, when we were still innocent, we can change the world. And to help us realize that no matter what, we should not lose this belief.

No matter our age, let's remember we will always have the power to make a change, but there's no better time than the present, to make our future a better one!