Kumu Hina, a teacher at Hālau Lōkahi in Hawaii, explains the gender-fluid language she’s coined for the gender-fluid “place in the middle.”

This animation sequence explains traditional Hawaiian gender roles and their conception of māhū, or the middle. Kumu Hina, a teacher at Hālau Lōkahi— a public charter school in Hawaii—also discusses the history of colonization and its impact on Hawaiian culture.

Eighteen-year-old Sandra exemplifies a strong sense of self, as she talks to her peers about why she doesn’t conform to societal gender norms.

Seventeen-year-old Itrat shares what it’s like to be a Muslim girl in America and explains why she chooses to wear a scarf.

Elizabeth MacQueen is the sculptor of Four Spirits, a monument built to memorialize the four girls killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. In her memoir, she discusses how the project revealed to her how sheltered she had been as a child growing up in Birmingham.