With shaking fingers and a skyrocketing heart rate, Nivedita Biju, junior, takes a few deep breaths as she peers into the audience from behind the curtain.

Biju performed eight dance pieces at the YMCA Chesterfield stage, last October, as part of a fundraiser she coordinated to raise money for a school for disabled children in India. It wasn’t only her dance moves that wowed the crowd, it was her inspiration: the struggles of a philanthropic school where she had spent the summer volunteering.

“My whole philosophy in life is to make others happy, and that’s the motto I run by,” Biju explained. “So, when I volunteered at the school I was really moved by the teachers and how they follow this same philosophy, so I wanted to support them.”

From humanitarian students like Biju to more entrepreneurial ones like senior Clayton Owens, owner of a t-shirt company, to the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, the emergence of a new generation is evident – Generation Z. Roughly defined as anyone born between 1995 and 2009, this new generation is now coming of age.

For the past decade, marketers have been focused on Millennials, making them the most researched generation in history. But new research is proving us to be immensely different from past generations.

Move over Millennials. Make way for Gen Z.

BORN REALISTS

Unlike the optimistic Gen Y’ers (Millenials), Gen Z’ers are turning out to be more and more pragmatic. Growing up in a post 9/11 world, amidst the Recession, and surrounded by countless amounts of school shootings and bombings, Generation Z had to grow up fast.

“While their upbringing may sound bleak, it hasn’t made them afraid or pessimistic,” researchers from the Cassandra Report, an in-depth analysis of Generation Z, said. “Instead, they’re more informed and practical from a young age.”

Watching parents, older siblings and others made Gen Z’ers more conservative and realistic.

“I think Gen Z is impacted by watching their elders, specifically millennials, and how they’ve suffered, and they don’t want to make the same mistakes as them,” Dan Schawbel, managing partner of Millennial branding, a Gen Y research firm, said.

Corby Ray, junior, agrees that Generation Z hasn’t witnessed the rosy carefree world the Millennials grew up in.

“We are more realistic not because of the international events, but more from what we’ve seen can happen,” Ray said. “Things do go bad, you can lose all your money, you can become homeless.”

This realistic attitude can be seen in our career choices too. While Gen Y had a passion problem, Gen Z is willing to take a less than perfect job, if it means success.

“I think the idea of following their passion will still hold up for them, but they’ll be more strategic about it,” Schawbel said. “If it’s not working they’ll do a typical job.”

Besides career preferences, their attitude towards failure has changed too.

“As children, Ys were a generation that was simply not allowed to fail,” researchers from the Cassandra Report said. “Gen Zs are owning and embracing their failures, considering them badges of honor for having tried something different and learning lessons in the process.”

While Gen Y, or Millennials, were raised with constant praise, Gen Z’ers were raised by the constructive criticism of their realistic Gen X parents, causing them to view failure as an opportunity to try again.

“Sometimes we’ll fail tests and we’ll just be like ‘ok, we’ll just do better on the next one,’” Kaylee Johnson, senior, said. “We won’t really worry or dwell on what happened, instead we’ll think more about the future.

REBELS WITH A CAUSE

Like Johnson, looking to the future is a sentiment other Gen Z’ers feel as well, provoking experts to label them as humanitarian. The harsh reality of the broken world hasn’t crushed them. Instead, t has inspired them.

In fact, according to Sparks & Honey, a New York City advertising agency, 60 percent want jobs that have a social impact, compared to the 31 percent of Gen Ys.

“I think we are a lot more outgoing and social-change orientated than the people before us,” Corby Ray, junior, said.

Even at MHS, an interest in volunteering is clear through the start of new clubs including Breakfast Club, a group of students who spends the morning with the elderly, and Krafts4Kids, a group that makes crafts with children at hospitals.

Inspiration for social change is one thing, but the drive and motivation for change is another. Raised to be unique individuals by their Gen X parents, Gen Z’ers have this drive.

“They’ll gladly take risks and break the rules—especially if it allows them to innovate, stand up for what they believe in, and/or improve the world at large,” researchers from the Cassandra report said. “A constructive sense of rebelliousness will continue to define this generation.”

From the growing trend of logo-free products and blank slate styles, researchers have increasingly noticed Gen Z’s free-spirited attitude.

“Whereas older generations sought to fit in when they were teens and tweens Zs consider it too restricting to be just like everyone else,” researchers from the Cassandra report said. “Encouraged to speak their minds and stand out from the crowd, they believe that the more unique one is, the more interesting they are.”

FREE-SPIRITS

There has been a 400 percent increase in black-white marriages, and 1000 percent increase in Asian-white marriages over the last 30 years, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

With multi-racial children as the fastest growing youth group in the US, Generation Z has first-hand experienced the fluid nature of sexual and racial identities. The modern family comes in all different colors and sizes, making diversity the new norm for them.

Generation Z is growing up during a time when diversity and open-mindedness are not just increasing- they seem to be growing exponentially.

One out of five congressmen are currently of a racial or ethnic minority. There are currently 24 female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, compared to just one in 1998. They’ve seen the stigma against same-sex marriage transform into legalization, and the election of the first black president.

“I think our generation is a lot more open minded,” Kaylee Johnson, senior, said. “We’re a lot more willing to believe in different types of ideas, whether it be social like gay marriage and things like that, or religious beliefs, we’re more willing to accept people for who they are.”

While a member of Gen X or Gen Y may have been shocked to see a same-sex or interracial couple on the street, many Gen Z’ers wouldn’t blink an eye.

“We just want people to be happy for who they are and what they want to do and be,” Corby Ray, junior, said. “We’re very free spirited and open-minded.”

DIGITAL NATIVES

Perhaps the most glaring difference between Generation Z and their predecessors, Generation Y, however, is that Gen Z’ers are “digital natives.”

“Gen Z is the first truly digital, visual and global generation,” Claire Madden, generational researcher, said. “They have integrated technology seamlessly into their lives, and having used it from the youngest age, it is almost like the air that they breathe.”

In sharp contrast with members of Generation Y, who grew up in a time when technology was being introduced throughout their childhood, Gen Z’ers were born into a world of technology, and it has always been a major part of their lives.

“When the oldest Gen Z’ers were two years of age in 1997, Google.com was registered as a domain, and when they turned five, USB flash drives and Nokia mobile phones were on the market,” Madden said.

For members of Generation Z, technology has always had a presence in their lives and has influenced the ways they interact with each other and the world. Although they have grown up with technology, they see it as a way to meet in person.

In fact, like generations before them, Generation Z still prefers in-person communication over emails and messaging, Schawbel said.

Lauren Williams, language arts teacher, sees the effect technology has on children firsthand in the classroom

“Generation Z is very dependent on technology,” Williams said. “Because phones are on and around so much, students can feel busier than they actually are.  Nothing creates stress and eats up time like multi-tasking.”

In fact, this dependence on technology has caused humans’ attention spans to drop from 12 seconds in 2000 to only eight seconds, less than that of a goldfish, according to a study by Microsoft.

Members of Generation Z agrees that technology has a huge, and often negative, presence in their lives.

“When I went to Loufest last year, I was seeing one of my favorite bands and I was taking all these photos and videos and I realized afterwards that I hadn’t really enjoyed the concert,” Emily Saxon, junior, said. “I think sometimes you need to put your phone away and live in the actual physical moment.”

Michelle Park, senior, said she also sees the negative impacts of a generation so heavily dependent on technology.

“I think we’re a lot worse at conversing with people and talking to them face to face,” Park said. “We get bored so easily now. We can’t just sit there and talk any more, we have to be doing something.”

But Park said she also sees a lot of positives in the technological boom.

“I can call my relatives in Korea now,” Park said. “Even a couple of years ago we couldn’t call our relatives that often because international calls are expensive, but now we can Skype them. It’s made personal connections a lot easier.”

Jillian Baker, junior, said she doesn’t see a problem with Gen Z’s dependence on technology, especially because they aren’t the only generation affected.

“I think technology is popular now and that’s just the way it is,” Baker said. “I don’t think it’s just our generation. My mom’s always checking her Facebook. It just started with us because we were born into it.”

Critical Outsiders

Despite the overwhelmingly positive adjectives attached to Gen Z by researchers, many members of older generations, still view “kids nowadays” in a negative light.

“I think some of the young people these days don’t have that drive, that passion, that old people like me used to have,” Associate Principal Carl Hudson said. “They think they’re entitled and that things are going to come to them easy, and it doesn’t. Hard work still pays off.

This may be linked to the “I want it and I want it now” attitude promoted by a society captivated with technology’s allure of instantaneous satisfaction. Gen Z’ers expect to be able to, for example, pull up a song in mere seconds through Spotify, or watch a movie on a whim on Netflix. It’s possible that as a result, Generation Z has lost some of that old-fashioned work ethic and acceptance that success takes time.

“The kids today are smarter than when I was growing up, they have a lot more advantages but overall the kids today are apathetic and lazy,” Hudson said.

Pamela Freiberg, business teacher, sees affluence as one issue that has had a negative effect on Generation Z.

“I think you’re kind of selfish because you are a generation that has had the bedroom to themselves, the bathroom to themselves, a phone of your own, a car of your own,” Freiberg said.

Even from the inside, Gen Z’ers can see the negatives in their generation

“I think there’s a lot of positives and negatives to our generation,” Johnson said. “Some of our generation can be lazy and pretty arrogant and narcissistic. However, I think there are a lot of people out there that are very motivated to become a better person in life and are really nice and friendly.”

“I think you’re kind of selfish because you are a generation that has had the bedroom to themselves, the bathroom to themselves, a phone of your own, a car of your own,” Freiberg said. “That didn’t always occur in our area.”

Freiberg would know; she grew up in the area and even attended Lafayette High School. Freiberg said one of the most prominent differences from when she was in high school is that students have adopted a more laid-back attitude regarding their education.

“You guys come to school so casual,” Freiberg, who had to wear dresses everyday in high school, said. “I think because you’re dressed so casual, you feel casual, so you act casual.”

Freiberg said she sees this casualness in not just the way students dress, but also their behavior, like putting feet up on their desks. Not only has she seen the decline in formality, but Freiberg said that she has also noticed students becoming less engaged in their learning.

“I think we’re very grade and score-oriented now,” Freiberg said. “ I would like them to be worrying about what they’re learning, questioning what they’re learning, asking to see a little different side of what they’re learning. Really we would hope that we’re building learners because you have to be learning constantly in life.”

Even from the inside, Gen Z’ers can see the negatives in their generation.

“I think there’s a lot of positives and negatives to our generation,” Johnson said. “Some of our generation can be lazy and pretty arrogant and narcissistic. However, I think there are a lot of people out there that are very motivated to become a better person in life and are really nice and friendly.”